Jaune's First Mission
by The Crocea Mors
Summary: When Jaune Arc gets picked to fill in for an injured member for team DSLT (Desolate), will he rise up to the challenge, or fail and die? Rated M for now, but that will come in later. Will contain some OC's. A Jaune x Harem.
1. A New Beginning

Disclaimer: RWBY belongs to the amazing mind of Monty Oum and Roosterteeth

* * *

Jaune Arc was nervous.

Scratch that, he was _very _nervous.

He was having lunch with his own team, and RWBY when Headmaster Ozpin had summoned him. Now Jaune was walking with Ozpin towards his office with his mind racing with questions.

'Did he find out about my transcripts? Is he going to expel me? What would happen to my team? How would they take it? What would they think of me? What would team RWBY do?'

While the Arc heir was busy with his internal turmoil, he didn't notice the silver haired man beside him smirk before going back to drinking his coffee.

'Is this how my journey at Beacon ends? And just as Weiss and I were becoming friends too.'

Jaune finished his musings as they entered Ozpin's office. After they had finished seating, Ozpin had finally broken the silence.

"Relax, Mr. Arc, you aren't in trouble." At this the Arc heir had calmed down immensely. That was short lived however, with Ozpin's next words. "However we know about your transcripts, Mr. Arc. Don't look surprised, if we wanted you gone you wouldn't have even gotten to see Beacon. You're here because of a mission."

At this, the Arc spoke up. "A mission? Might I ask the details of it?"

Ozpin finished sipping from his coffee before replying.

"Of course, Jaune. A third year team named DSLT (Desolate) was assigned to a two part mission. First was to escort a high value individual, and once done with that, they were to clear Grimm nests around three villages. However, the team leader and tactician Darwin had been injured and is currently in the infirmary. Normally we'd just take another third year and place them on their team but we've seen your progress, Jaune, and we've gotta say, we are impressed. Not only that, but you've aced a test that you were meant to fail, even fourth years have trouble with the test.

In short Jaune, you are the only viable replacement for this mission. This mission would take approximately a month to complete. Now Jaune, what do you say?"

Jaune took some time to process what he'd just heard. A month long mission without his team? With third years? HVI escort and Grimm clearing? Was he really up for this? People's lives are depending on his decisions, could he really trust himself?

With determination in his eyes, Jaune looked up at Ozpin. "I accept." He said, with no hesitation or second guessing.

Ozpin merely smiled at the lad after taking a sip from his coffee. "Wonderful. The bullhead you and the remainder of DSLT will be leaving tomorrow afternoon. You may take the rest of today and tomorrow off, to prepare. If that is all Jaune, you may leave."

The boy merely nodded before leaving. Instead of heading back to the cafeteria he merely took his armour, weapons, and a few water bottles and headed to the training arena. He headed to the control panel and set the difficulty to maximum. After the simulation had finished counting down, the training bots filled the arena.

* * *

Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath to calm his steady nerves. When he opened his eyes, he raised Crocea Mors and it was all a flash of white and yellow. He cut a robot in half before kicking its remains into the crowd of robots. He kept slashing and hacking with a renewed sense of vigour, occasionally doing some acrobatics, such as back flipping onto a robots shoulder, driving Crocea Mors hilt deep into the robot, before dislodging and focusing aura on all parts of his body, let out a massive aura blast, destroying all the bots in the training room.

After the simulation had ended he felt the fatigue sink in, with a heavy sigh he fell onto one knee, and wiped the sweat off his brow. As he was getting up, he heard clapping to the side and looked to see his team and team RWBY cheering him on, and making their way to him.

"How did you do that? That was amazing!" Ruby had been the first to say something. All of their faces filled with happiness for his improvements.

"It looks like all that training with Pyrrha has paid off." Weiss had commented.

"Thanks guys, but there's something I have to tell you." As Jaune was about to speak, he was once again bombarded with questions.

"What'd Ozpin want with you?" Ruby had asked.

"Did he congratulate you on your progress, Lady Killer?" Yang had teased.

"He asked me if I was interested in a mission, and I accepted. Before you ask, I have to sub in for a third year team and the mission's to escort a high value individual and afterwards clear Grimm nests around three villages."

Pyrrha was the first one to speak. "So when're you leaving?"

"Tomorrow afternoon. I know its short notice but it seems like it's an important mission." After finishing his answer, he was nervous for their reactions. Would they support him, would they believe in him? Would they even care?

"That sounds dangerous, please be careful." It was Weiss who had said that, surprising everyone in the room, no one more than Jaune himself.

"Of course, anything for you, my Snow Angel."

To no one's surprise, she merely glared at the blonde knight, however her glare was missing its usual venom.

"Hnph!" Weiss just turned away at Jaune, preparing to walk away. "Don't get hurt, people are counting on you after all."

"I guess that's our cue to leave." Ruby had said. "Will you be going with us?" Yang had followed up.

"No, Ozpin gave me today and tomorrow off, to prepare. Hence why you found me here." Jaune had stated.

Pyrrha had looked a little crestfallen, but just as Jaune was about to say something she had told the rest of JNPR that they should get to class, to which they agreed.

Jaune, who was as oblivious as always, merely shrugged it off. After picking up his equipment and drinking some much needed water, he made his way to the boys shower to freshen up, since he smelled bad from his training.

* * *

After doing so, he made his way to Vale, to pick up supplies he might need for the trip. During his little stroll he went into a weapons store to check it out.

He walked into the store and immediately went to the close quarters section.

Jaune had found an intricate looking blade, about 7-8 inches long. The blade was curved and gray. The handle was black intertwined with gold, and a large sapphire had adorned where the handle met the blade. He grabbed it and took a few practice swings, he noted that the blade was incredibly light, but also very sharp. When he was satisfied, he looked at the price. 500 lien, he was surprised, a blade this beautiful and deadly would easily be in the thousands. He smiled to himself, grabbed the dagger and moved on towards to the sword collection.

He finally saw a sword that made him do a double-take.

The sword itself was grand. It was a greatsword, requiring two hands to wield. The blade itself was a pale white, with what looked like small, grey runes running all throughout the blade. The hilt was chrome, with golden ball bearings at both ends. The handle was wrapped with lavender coverings, and the pommel was a white star. "Hn, maybe I should get the pommel changed from a star to the twin arcs of my family." Jaune said to no one in particular. When he picked it up, he'd been surprised. The greatsword was very light, but incredibly sharp, just like the dagger he'd gotten. It was almost as tall as him, and was as wide as his hands. When he looked at the price, he found himself smiling for a second time. 5000 lien. He expected more for a sword like this, and immediately went to the cashier, paying for the dagger and the sword, and leaving. He walked to the air docks, waiting for a bullhead to take him back to Beacon. During his wait, he realized that all good weapons need names. So when he boarded the bullhead, his airsickness was forgotten, as he was too busy thinking of a name for the new dagger and sword.

He had to take this seriously, as he knew the importance of the naming of weapons.

The dagger was an easy one, it looked menacing but but intricate, and so he named it Lifedrinker.

The light from the window had seeped into the bullhead and hit the blade at an angle which made it look paler than usual, it made it look, almost like-

Dawn. That's the blade's new name, Dawn.

* * *

** That's it for the first chapter. I was a little iffy on some parts so I added and elaborated on somethings, as well as fix some grammatical mistakes.  
**


	2. The Heiress and the DSLT

Weiss

It was a normal day for Weiss, she went to class, did her work, and came down with her team and JNPR to lunch. As usual, Nora was informing everyone of what happened in her past adventures.

"-and then we were surrounded by 500 Deathstalkers and-"

"There was only 1." Ren had corrected.

"I used my awesome semblance to upgrade Magnhild so that it'll fire super-duper explosive rounds then-"

"She unloaded on the Deathstalker, and then it gave out after I filled it with bullets from Stormflower."

Ruby was the first to speak. "Wow Nora that sounded so cool!" The Valkyrie could only smile at the young girls praise.

The young heiress would take occasional glance at the blonde knight that was the leader of team JNPR. He had come incredibly far from his first day at Beacon. He became an exceptional fighter, good student and excellent tactician. All of the teachers had said so, they even had gone as far as to tell me he aced a test that he was meant to fail, and it even stumped most of the fourth years! The blonde knight had even stopped his shameless flirting with her and they became good friends. It also helped when he had talked Neptune into dancing with her, however she quickly forgot about the blue-haired boy and her feelings towards him after he told her how Jaune had talked him. She knew that Jaune had liked her, and that he could've just asked her to dance himself, and so he gave up his happiness so she could have hers, and that... that started her attraction to him. Maybe, just maybe, his love may not be so one-sided after all.

Besides, she could certainly relate to him about the 'living up to the family legacy', and how they were supposed to be the best as heirs. Now that she was done loathing him, she had noticed that he had incredible blonde hair, and ocean blue eyes that she could get lost in. She thought that because of how he looked he was lacking muscle, of how wrong she was.

During a training exercise, Jaune only had to wear his shirt since the hoodie he was wearing had gotten ripped beyond recognition. However, when he had seen that a fellow classmate had gotten injured and was bleeding, he took off his shirt, ripped it and wrapped it around the girl's midsection. That was everyone-including a few guys- had stopped and looked at the blonde knight. Instead of a flat stomach he actually _had_ a six pack, and while he wasn't too beefy like some of the meat heads at Beacon, he was well off. A lot of nosebleeds had occurred that day. Even Yang -the Goddess of Teasing- had gotten one, and had to leave to prevent herself from jumping and claiming him on the spot. Even Weiss could admit to herself that she had shared similar thoughts about the blonde knight.

As she finished her little memory, she was unknowingly staring at Jaune and unknowingly had looked away with a blush so red that it puts Ruby's cloak to shame. When Yang had seen her, she sent Weiss a text on her scroll. When Weiss had looked at it, she was a tad bit infuriated.

_Yang: He's mine. You've had your shot and you rejected him, now let others have a turn_.

Infuriated, Weiss had sent back a message.

_Weiss: Well blondie, it seems as though Jaune hasn't stopped completely, so I still have a chance. And seeing as how HE was the one that came after me, I'd say I have a better chance than you and everyone else._

When Yang had seen the message, she was furious, but just as she was going to reply, Headmaster Ozpin had appeared and requested Jaune. Everyone at the table had been filled with equal amounts of dread and curiosity. Pyrrha however, had voiced everyone's question. "What does he want with Jaune?" All she got in return were just shrugs and some "I don't know's".

* * *

Lunch had gone by incredibly quick for her, seeing as her focus was on Jaune, who hadn't come back to lunch yet. They heard however that there was a student who was in the training area and had the difficulty set to maximum. When both teams RWBY and JNPR had rushed in, they saw Jaune in a whole new light. They knew he could fight, but they didn't know he could fight like _this_. He had been surprisingly acrobatic, and ruthlessly efficient. Every move he made was calculated, no energy was wasted on unnecessary actions. When he was finally done, everyone couldn't hold it in and clapped loudly and rushed over to him.

After the Q&amp;A was over, he had told them that he was assigned on a mission with third years. The world felt weird for Weiss just then. Jaune's going on a dangerous mission that he might not return from; this'll be his first mission too! She felt weird for worrying for someone else's life. When the world felt normal again, she had finally gotten control of her voice.

"That sounds dangerous, please be careful." She had said, and she meant every word too.

However the lunkhead had only looked at her and responded with a goofy grin of his.

"Of course, anything for you, my Snow Angel."

Weiss had looked away, so that everyone won't see the massive blush adorning her face. "Don't get hurt, people are counting on you after all." _'Especially me'_ Weiss had added in her mind.

Afterwards, she just left with her team and the NPR of JNPR and headed to class.

Class went by incredibly fast for Weiss, with thoughts of Jaune Arc filling her mind. She tried so very hard to concentrate on the class, but no matter how hard she willed it, the thoughts about him wouldn't go, so she just accepted them, because there was no point in denying love anymore. Thoughts about his safety and well being were the most common, and she was certain to remind him before he left that he should message her every chance he gets. Since he leaves tomorrow afternoon, she should spend every minute she could get with him. There were a lot of problems with that, however. Pyrrha, Yang, and Ruby were well known contenders for the heart of Jaune Arc. Pyrrha and Ruby, she knew, liked Jaune for good reasons. Pyrrha, because she loved how Jaune treats her like a normal human being and cares about her, and makes sure she never feels alone. Ruby, because Jaune was her first friend, and helped her from Weiss herself, during the first day at Beacon. He also didn't care that Ruby was 2 years younger than him; in fact, he only encouraged her and gave her his strength. But Yang... Weiss was still unsure about Yang`s feelings toward her fellow blonde. Maybe she had finally realized how much of a catch he is? Does she only want him for his looks? That was something Weiss would have to ask the blonde brawler later.

Now that classes were over she made her way to find the object of her-and 3 other girls'-affection. However, the knight was nowhere in sight.

* * *

Jaune

As soon as Jaune got to Beacon, he went back to JNPR's dorm and put Lifedrinker and Dawn in their cases and put them away. Afterwards, he went to Ozpin's office to get information about the SLT part of team DSLT, since they would have to work together for a month on a high risk mission. So he left the dorm and when he finally got there, he finally asked Ozpin what he needed.

"You'll find team DSLT in their dorm, in the other side of the school, room number 8."

"Thank you, Headmaster Ozpin."

"Of course Jaune. We can't have miscommunication with your team now, will we?"

"Of course not sir." With that, the Arc heir took his leave.

When Jaune had gotten to team DSLT's dorm, he knocked thrice before putting his hand down to his side. A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a girl with long wavy auburn hair, and chestnut eyes.

"Hey, what's up? I'm Jaune, your replacement for the mission tomorrow."

"Oh, hi. My name's Serena. Please, come in." The girl now known as Serena had said.

When she opened the door, it was a standard looking dorm found in Beacon. There were 2 other people in the room as well. A girl with pale skin, black hair and light blue eyes was lying in a bed with ear buds in and reading a book. To his right, a girl with fair skin, silver hair and lilac eyes was watching him, like how a lioness watches her prey.

Serena motioned with her hand to the girl with black hair first.

"Her name's Lyanna. She's pretty docile unless it concerns combat. Her weapon of choice is a chokuto which she calls the Kusanagi. This girl here" She finished with Lyanna and now gestures towards the girl with silver hair "is Talisa. She-"

Just before she can finish, Talisa interrupts Serena and introduces herself.

"My name's Talisa, as you've already heard. I use a-"She pulls up a .50 cal sniper rifle with urban camo"-.50 cal sniper rifle I lovingly call Lifesbane."

Jaune was quite impressed with Talisa's weapon when Serena had brought out her own weapon, a war hammer, almost as tall as Jaune, and heavier.

"She's my baby, Death Dealer, I call her. And that's not even the end of it." As soon as she pressed on a pattern the war hammer started mecha-shifting into a rail gun. Jaune's eyes widen.

"Do you see why I call her Death Dealer, Jaune?"

"Y-yes I do." Jaune had stuttered out

Serena and Talisa merely giggled while Jaune was pale. That was when the girl known as Lyanna had joined the conversation.

"So you're our replacement hn? Let me show you Kusanagi."

She pulled out a sword sheathed in a scabbard and un-sheathed it. The hilt and scabbard were both black, and the sword was flat. The blade itself was chrome, and very _very _sharp.

"We all showed you our weapons; it should only be fair you show us yours." She said with a glint of mischief in her eyes. The other girls only nodded in confirmation.

Jaune however, missed the innuendo completely and smiled a big grin.

"Alright, we'll go now then!" Jaune turned around the minute the words escaped his mouth and missed the three girls pale, before looking at each other with mischief.

"He's quite the looker; I wouldn't mind him being my first." Serena had commented.

"Indeed, however I don't. Like. Sharing." Lyanna had followed up.

"Hn, I think our little knight-in-shining-armour is quite handsome." Talisa had said.

* * *

When they finished their trek to JNPR's dorm he saw that it was empty, so he showed them the weapons.

He took Dawn's case and opened it. Taking it out he showed it to SLT, and just then, a ray of light shone through the window and hit Dawn perfectly, he heard the girls gasp in awe.

"This is Dawn."

Afterwards, he took Lifedrinker's case and opened it, showing them the blade. They were awed once again.

'_Is this one of the perks to being the heir of a prestigious House?'_ They three girls thought.

"This is Lifedrinker, my blade. You never know when you'll need a good blade, so here she is."

And lastly, Jaune took Crocea Mors, sword-and-shield. He un-sheathed Crocea and showed them. It seems they were all out of gasps. Lastly, he turned the sheath to its shield mode.

"Awww" The three had said simultaneously. Well, there goes that idea.

The shield was as white as freshly fallen snow, with the golden twin arcs of his House proudly emblazoned on the front.

"Well, it's getting late, we should probably go to sleep, important mission tomorrow and all." Jaune had suggested.

Serena, Lyanna and Talisa all shared a look before smirking and turning to Jaune. He just stumbled back from the three as they moved forward. Suddenly the door opened to reveal his team and RWBY at the front. Scratch that, a very _shocked_ team NPR and RWBY at the front.

"Jau-Jaune? W-Who are these girls?" Pyrrha had stuttered out. It seems that all the others could agree.

"Hey guys, these gals are the SLT of DSLT; I thought it'd be a good idea to get to know each other before the mission, since it will be a long and dangerous one."

The two teams only looked at each other and back at Jaune before slowly nodding in acceptance.

"Well, SLT should head back to their dorms to sleep for their mission tomorrow. Wanna get a good sleep in." Ruby had pointed out.

Serena, Lyanna and Talisa only looked at each other, and smirked before they slowly advance towards Jaune. Just as he was about to say something, the three girls kissed Jaune's cheeks, a crimson blush adorning Jaune's face. The three merely smirked before leaving the room, strutting their hips sultrily before leaving.

Ruby, Weiss, Yang and Pyrrha were livid while Blake, Nora and Ren were amused by the sudden turn-of-events.

Jaune still looked like a deer caught in headlights, before shrugging and heading off to the bathroom and closing the door.

When he left the bathroom after brushing his teeth, and washing his face, he looked around their dorm to see team RWBY gone and the rest of his team on their respective beds. Pyrrha headed to the bathroom before giving him a nod, while Nora booped Ren's nose before heading off to her own bed to sleep. Ren merely nodded at his team leader before heading off to bed. Jaune closed his eyes, with a smile on his lips, ready for what the morrow brings.

* * *

**And that's chapter two! After I finished the first chapter I fixed some minor details, took a break and wrote this. I apologize if it seems rushed, and that Weiss and Yang's feelings towards Jaune seem a lot rushed. For Jaune's weapons Game of Thrones had been heavily involved. By that I mean Lifedrinker, is basically Catspaw, with a sapphire instead of a ruby. Dawn is taken from two parts, Ice, the greatsword of House Stark, while the appearance and the name Dawn itself came from the sword that House Dayne uses, Dawn, also called the Sword of the Morning. For SLT's weapons, is also the same way. Serena's war hammer looks like King Robert's war hammer from Game of Thrones, without the insignias of course. Lyanna's chokuto is modeled after Sasuke Uchiha's from Naruto Shipuden, and the name of it as well. Talisa's sniper rifle's a Barrett .50 cal. The names for two of the members of DSLT were also from Thrones. Lyanna from Lyanna Stark, and Talisa for Talisa Stark, however she has more of a Targaryen look. Also, I set up a poll if you wanna vote on who Jaune ends up with, but if there's nothing I'll just pick which girl at the time would make sense.**


	3. The Departure & All It Entails

Jaune woke up with a big smile on his face as he walked to and entered the bathroom. While he was brushing his teeth the only thing that seemed to think about was the mission this afternoon. He left his dorm to head to the showers. When he was finished with his shower and stepped out of the stall, he realized that in his little skip to the showers he'd only brought his towel with him. Wearing only a towel around his waist, Jaune had walked back to his dorm in haste.

Just as he was nearing his objective, Serena, Lyanna and Talisa stopped him in the hallway, with blushes across their faces.

"Well if it isn't our knight-in-shining-armour." Selena had commented.

"Or should we say our six-pack-knight." Lyanna had mention.

"Not that we mind though." Talisa had said while her eyes ran up-and down the knight's towel-clad body. "Yes" Talisa said while she licked her lips "Mama likey."

Jaune could only blush, and just as he was about to respond RWBY's dorm room had opened, with Weiss getting ready to berate whoever was being loud enough this early in the morning, however, what she saw shut her up immediately. There he was, the object of her affection, wearing only a towel, while the beads of water where dripping down his body into the towel and-

"What's up Ice Queen?" Weiss was brought out of her thoughts by her blonde teammate... and rival for the affections of one Jaune Arc.

"I told you to stop calling me that Xiao Long. " The heiress had responded.

"I know, it's just funny this way. What were you so distracted about, and what was with all that noi-" Yang's body just froze when she looked at the scene in front of her. It was Jaune, her prey, clad only in a towel, with water dripping down his-

"What's all the fuss about? Why is everyone out here?" Ruby had asked from inside the dorm. When she came out however, she was in the same state as the 5 other girls.

"Wow, um, would you look at the time. Well, I-erm gotta go!" Jaune had said before sidestepping SLT and running to his room and slamming the door.

"So, um, that was something." Ruby had nervously mentioned, trying to break the ice.

"Yes, it was. And how fortunate are we that we have him to ourselves for a whole month." Serena had mentioned with a smirk directed towards the other 3, while Lyanna and Talisa nodded in approval.

Weiss however, was not one to let something's, rather some_one_ go without a fight. "Let's not forget here." She said with a bit of anger and smugness. "That out of all of us here, _HE _was the one that approached _ME _and has, on multiple occasions, declared his undying love for me." She finished with a smirk.

Yang however, quickly countered. "Yes, and _YOU _were the one who _REJECTED HIM, _and besides, when was the last time he said that he liked you?"

The smirk had quickly fallen, and left the heiress stumbling for words. "Well, um, it may have been quite some time since he had said so, but it's there. Otherwise, he wouldn't have talked to Neptune for me."

"Well whoever this 'Neptune' guy is, sounds like he has a thing for you. Besides, didn't you say Jaune talked to him for you?" Lyanna had commented.

"Well yes, but I soon realized that Neptune's just a guy who'll flirt with every girl he sees. Besides, Jaune gave up his happiness for me, and that was when I realized the kind of guy Jaune is, and why I need someone like him by my side, to show me what it feels like to love and _be _loved." Weiss finished, with an uncharacteristic looked mixed with hope and melancholy.

The girls could only look at her in a new light. They thought she had feelings for the knight because she'd missed the attention he gave her, or now that other girls were vying for his attention, she wanted it. They never knew why she liked him until now, and that had made them question their own feelings for him.

Ruby likes him because he was her first friend in Beacon. Not only that but he helped her from Weiss, and would take it upon himself to encourage the girl and give her strength, even if he was lacking it. He would always make sure she was happy, and when she wasn't, he wouldn't sleep until she was, even if it had inconvenienced him.

Yang likes him because he was the first guy she met that wouldn't throw himself to her feet, although he did throw _up_on her feet, but she was past that now. She liked that he treated her normally, and wouldn't stare at her like she was a piece of meat to be won. He's also genuinely nice, caring and wouldn't hesitate to help someone, even a complete stranger. Plus, it also helped that he had a rockin' 'bod, and that they were the only blondes in both teams. Yang could already see it, they'd have twins, a boy and a girl, with blonde hair, and one would have his blue eyes while the other would have her lilac eyes.

Serena, Lyanna and Talisa had only met him yesterday, but they could sense something very genuine within the blonde swordsman. He was outgoing, caring, and even though he's the heir to a prestigious family, he was down-to-earth and humble. Besides, whenever he flashes that famous 'lady killer' grin of his, they can't help being reduced to smitten girls.

A pregnant pause had settled in the hallway, and Serena had taken it upon herself to change it. "Well, that's nice and all, but myself, Lyanna and Talisa won't simply hand him over to you."

Weiss had eagerly responded. "Is that so? Well what are you three gonna do? Share him?"

SLT merely looked at each other before shrugging. "I don't like sharing, but I suppose Jaune could be an exception." Lyanna had said, while the other two merely nodded.

Weiss looked flabbergasted. "I-I-I, we-well, he-he's a big boy, not to mention a hunter-in-training; I know he'll be able to make his decision for himself." She had finally stuttered out.

Yang however, had a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Yeah, she's right he _IS _a big boy."

All the girls flushed at the blonde brawlers comment before Jaune had left his dorm fully clothed. He was wearing black sweatpants and a white shirt with the twin golden arcs of his House.

"We need to go to my dorm, all of us, including you, SLT." With that, he turned around and headed to his dorm. The girls merely shared a look of confusion before following him.

* * *

When the girls entered the dorm, they saw the rest of NPR dressed and on their beds, sharing the same look of confusion before Jaune had closed the door.

Jaune sighed before looking at them all. "I have something to tell you all. You're all aware that I come from a lineage of heroes." After seeing them all nod, he hesitated before continuing. "Well, there's a secret to my family that pertains to male Arcs. Well, around my age, the male Arcs gain a lust for battle. A lust so great that it turns the eyes red." He looked up to see their reactions. Some had been conflicted while the others were shocked. "H-how bad is it?" Ruby had asked. Jaune merely sighed before closing his eyes, thought about the upcoming battles to come, and a sudden shot of thrill, excitement and power shot throughout his whole body. An uncharacteristic maniacal grin filled his face and when he opened his eyes, he heard them all gasp. For instead of his usual blue, it was replaced with a blood red, mixed with his killer grin had been a frightening sight.

Jaune had to reel the power in before closing his eyes, and once he opened them, the blue was back. "Well, any questions?" He had asked. Ruby had been the first to ask. "Well, how, how bad is it? The battle lust, I mean." Jaune thought for a moment before responding. "Well, the longer or better the battle is, the more I lose control of myself. When that happens, I immediately forgot about everything else but the fight. Some of my ancestors had died because in their battle lust they had forgotten their aura levels and health."After Jaune had finished the room was as quiet as a crypt. "Well Jaune, as your teammates for the month we thank you for letting us know ahead of time. Just know that this doesn't affect how we think of you. I can confidently say that for my team, yours and team RWBY when I saw this." When Serena had finished speaking everyone had nodded and either offered a smile or a thumbs up. "Besides, those red eyes just make you look hotter. Any chance you could mix-and-match those red and blues for us?" Lyanna had added on, eliciting a blush from every girl in the room except for Nora, who was just... Nora.

"Well I-I uh, I'm pretty sure I could, although I'd rather not, if-if you don't mind." Jaune had stuttered out. "Well, although I am a little sad that my little knight won't show me how good he looks with mix-matched eyes, I'll honour your request." Talisa had commented.

Jaune smiled in gratitude before walking towards the door, we should all get breakfast now." He had said before opening the door and leaving. After he left, everyone just left without a word and followed him into the cafeteria.

Afterwards, they all headed to their own dorms to prepare for their day, with RWBY and the rest of NPR getting ready for classes while JSLT got ready for their mission. Soon enough, lunch came.

Jaune had gone into his dorm and went to his dresser, and pulled out a bag filled with clothes he'd gotten during his trip in Vale.

He wore a black skin tight shirt, and put on a blue hoodie, and out on armour. The armour however, had been strengthened and added more armour to protect his torso. He put on black jeans and matching black sneakers. He strapped Lifedrinker to his right thigh, put Crocea Mors into its sheath and put it into his left side. He put on a long white cloak with a hood and the golden twin arcs of his House super imposed in the back, the armour however is still visible even underneath the cloak. Afterwards he put Dawn into his sheath, the great sword too big to put on his side; he slung it across his back. Afterwards he walked towards the bullhead hangar, and everyone else was their already, arriving early.

* * *

When they saw him, their jaws hit the ground. Since he was walking towards them, the sun had hit his back, and with the hood on he looked like a shining knight. The girls all adorned a blush while Ren was impressed for his team leader.

When Jaune had arrived, he instantly apologized for keeping them waiting and ushered SLT into the bullhead they were taking for the mission. He turned back to say his goodbyes.

Ruby was openly crying and hugged him tightly. "Bye Jaune, please be safe! Message us whenever you get the chance!"

Weiss had better control of her emotions however, but when she hugged him her grip was tight and her voice was faltering. "Be safe Jaune. I'll be waiting for your safe return, and just as Ruby said, contact us whenever you can."

Blake had hugged him too, with slightly less tighter grip. "The world needs more humans like you, Jaune, please return safely."

Yang had enveloped him in a back crushing hug. "Try not to lose it in the bullhead Vomit Boy. But as an incentive to get home safely, I'll give you a certain prize, something that only a married man and woman should do." She let go with a slight blush, but Jaune's and everyone else's was much, _much_ worse.

Pyrrha had hugged him as tightly as her competition. "Please watch yourself out there Jaune. I'll always be there for you, as your friend and your _partner_." Pyrrha had concluded, putting a bit too much emphasis on the word _partner_.

Nora had scooped him into a hug far more bone crushing than Yang's. "JAUNNEEEEY! I'LL MISS YOU! DON'T GET KILLED BECAUSE THEN WE'D HAVE TO GET A NEW TEAMMATE AND I REALLY DON'T WANT TO SINCE WE-" Nora was quickly interrupted by Ren coughing quite loudly to get the girl to stop.

Ren then shook Jaune's hand and took him to a bro hug. "Jaune, you're my friend and so please make it home safely." Jaune broke off the hug and pulled out 7 varying and expensive looking jewellery

He took the one with Ruby's symbol made with the gem that was her namesake, with Jaune's twin arcs made of solid gold intertwined, and fastened by a silver chain. He walked towards the youngest of the group and placed it into her hands. He took the necklace with a snowflake shaped crystal, intertwined with the solid gold twin arcs of his family and handed it to Weiss. Next, he pulled out a necklace with Blake's symbol, made out of obsidian. Jaune's symbol made of solid goal, intertwining with her. It was held together by a black chain. Next was Yang's symbol made of yellow diamonds, and Jaune's symbol made of solid gold, outlined in sapphires, held with a silver chain.

He pulled out a crimson ring outlined with gold. The gem was a red garnet, with Jaune's symbol in gold and Pyrrha's in an equal red, outlined in gold. He took a pink ring outlined with quartz. The gem was a hot pink, with Jaune's symbol in gold and her's intertwined. Lastly, he took a green ring outlined in obsidian. The gem was a light emerald with his symbol trimmed in obsidian, and Jaune's made of gold. He stepped back and looked at all of them. "You are all important to me, and words cannot express how grateful I am to all of you, so where words fail, the jewellery may do well. Goodbye." He flashed them all one last bright smile, and walked towards the bullhead. When Jaune took a seat and looked out through the window, he could see them waving, until they, and Beacon, became nothing but a blimp in the ground. Jaune closed his eyes, and readied himself, filled with excitement and fear for challenging month to come.

* * *

**That's a wrap! This chapter took really wrong to finish up for some reason. I apologize for the description of the jewellery that Jaune gave them. I'm really bad with those kinds of things. Well those and fighting scenes. I've had an idea for a new story I wanna do but I've been on the fence about it, so I wanna thank Tobias Kitsune for helping me in that regard, and just in general. Also for the shoutout he gave me on his story. You should check him out, especially _Notes_. Also, the poll's still open if you want a say in who Jaune ends up with. Here are the current standings:  
**

**Harem: 7**

**Ruby: 6**

**Yang: 5**

**Pyrrha: 5**

**Weiss: 4**

**Serena: 1**

**Lyanna: 1**

**Talisa: 1**


	4. JSLT and their Mission

_Weiss_

They had watched the bullhead ascend, and leave the docks of Beacon. Her team and the remainder of JNPR had stood there in silence. Ruby had been the one to break the silence.

"How do we know that Jaune could even get a signal where he's going? For all we know, he could be in the badlands, or-or his scroll could break, maybe even-" Her ramblings were cut short by the clearing of a throat, and when they looked to the direction where the sound came from, they saw the man who'd sent Jaune on the mission, Headmaster Ozpin.

"Please do not concern yourselves with those kinds of details, as they're not necessary." Ozpin had cryptically said.

"I don't understand, what do you mean by 'not necessary'"? Yang had asked.

"I assume you're all aware of actress and singer Alexandra Free?" Upon seeing their nods he continued. "Well, she needs an escort into Vacuo, but she has a wariness for air and land travel, so they'll be taking a bullhead to meet her in her hotel, and fly to their LZ, nicknamed Sierra, and walk all the rest of the way. She has her assistant bring cameras so they can make a video of their journey." Ozpin had finished saying.

"That-that's really stupid. Why not fly all the way there instead?" Weiss had asked

"Her reasons are hers and hers alone. But that _should_ make you feel a little bit better, knowing that you can watch literally every second he spends on that trip." With that Ozpin merely turns before walking away, but not before Ren had asked him a question.

"Then why would she need a whole team then?"

Ozpin stopped for a second, before continuing to walk away. "Because we have reasons to believe that the White Fang are after her."

* * *

_Jaune_

The air ride had been filled with much worrying and planning for the blonde leader of the temporary team JSLT. He had been entrenched in his Scroll, looking for weather patterns, Grimm migration, police reports, anything that would let him plan for their mission ahead. He was so focused on his work that he didn't see the rest of SLT looking at him with concern.

"What should we do? I've never seen him like this before." Serena had said to the other 2 girls.

"Well clearly he was made leader for a reason." Lyanna had said.

"I kind of like this side of him. Sure him being that awkward goof's nice, but seeing him so deep in thought, taking charge, is kinda _hot._" Talisa had said.

The other two merely deadpanned before looking back at their temporary leader.

"Jaune, you've enough time to prepare for our mission on the road, perhaps you should sleep for a bit? We can't have you tired while planning out our route now, can we?" Serena had said.

Jaune was about to protest when a yawn escaped his lips, the girls merely giggled, proving their point. "I-I guess a little nap won't hurt." And with that, the Arc had closed his eyes, letting sleep consume him.

When he opened his eyes next, a little girl with hair as blonde as his was looking at him, but the strange part was, that she had one lavender eye while the other was ocean blue. Just before he could say anything, another girl appeared, but this time, she had blond hair and silver eyes. Then suddenly a boy with crimson hair and blue eyes stood next to the girls. Another boy showed up, but he had blonde hair and amber eyes. Another girl appeared; she had white hair and blue eyes. When he looked at them, they were what he assumed, his children would look like mixed with their mothers DNA.

The girl with the mismatched eyes was with him and Yang, the girl with silver eyes was obviously with Ruby. The boy with crimson hair was with Pyrrha, the boy with amber eyes Blake, and the girl with white hair was with Weiss. '_Is this what my children might look like if I married them?'_ Jaune had thought.

However, the children merely looked at him before speaking at the same time. "Jaune Arc, in this mission you will either die letting others live, or watch others die as _you _live." Just as Jaune was about to respond, the children vanished and were replaced by a pack of Deathstalkers. Jaune attempted to move his arm to draw Crocea Mors but realized one, crucial thing. _He couldn't move._

So Jaune just stood there, as the Deathstalkers looked at him, their red meeting his blue. They merely clicked their mandibles, and slowly approached him, savouring the moment, for both Jaune and the monsters knew he was immobilized, and could only watch. He felt fear creep into every fibre of his being. He'd faced them before, taken them down even, but for some reason, being paralyzed and watching your death slowly stalk towards you was... mind numbingly frightening.

He saw his life flash before his eyes, his training with his father, him failing, the villagers looking down on him, the woman he'd met in the city who offered to get him to Beacon, initiation, and finally his team and RWBY. He was going to leave them all, a single tear left his eye as he saw the Deathstalkers all lift their tails at once and strike him. However, just before their stingers could hit him, he opened his eyes, _truly, _opened them.

When he did, he was met with three, very concerned faces. Before they could say anything, he merely waved them off and told them that he was fine, and that they should work on relaxing before the mission. Just as they were about to retort, they were interrupted by the pilot, telling them that they've arrived to their destination.

Just as the bullhead descended and the door opened, revealing a man in his late 40's wearing a suit, from the looks of it, he's Alex Free's butler.

The man had greeted them warmly.

"Hello, you must be team JSLT. My name's Malcolm Jones, I'm Miss Free's butler. If you would please, follow me."

"Hello, my name's Jaune Arc, I'm the leader of JSLT." Malcolm shook his hand before leading them into a table in the terrace of the hotel. There was a woman sitting on the table they were heading to, before Malcolm could say anything, the woman had stood up and introduced herself.

She had chocolate brown hair that reached to the middle of her back, and had light lavender eyes. She had light skin that looked like porcelain.

"Hello, you must be the team JSLT, my temporary guards. My name's Alexandra Free, I'd be glad to glad to get to know you better. Malcolm, some privacy if you'd please." With a nod, he left the five alone.

With that, the five had spent the next hour telling some basic information about each other, and afterwards Jaune had informed them of the course of the mission.

* * *

A pair of soft footsteps had brought them out of their conversation and when they looked at the owner of the footsteps and were surprised, except for Alexandra.

The girl jet black hair with hints of blue, onyx eyes, and light skin. She had an amused smirk on her face, but when her onyx eyes met Jaune's sapphire eyes, she was surprised. She regained her composure however, and walked towards Alexandra, and pulled out a chair. Jaune was about to say something when Alexandra cut him off.

"This is Katie, she's my best friend and she'll also be accompanying us to our journey to Vacuo."

The girl known as Katie merely nodded at SLT while smirking in fascination at Jaune. She was looking at him with a mixture of amusement and fascination. Uncomfortable, Jaune merely coughs and attempts to steer the conversation to another direction.

"So umm, we should maybe bring our supplies and board the bullhead." Jaune had said, while the remaining members of JSLT merely nodded. Alexandra's eyes widened in surprise before nodding her head.

"Ah that's true." Alexandra pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Malcolm, who went to the hotel to fetch their belongings, while the five had walked towards the bullhead. Katie merely walked beside Jaune and started chatting. When they'd boarded, Alexandra looked nervous, but Jaune had merely put his hand on her shoulder and spoke.

"Miss Free relax. Everything'll be fine, and if something does happen, we'll be here to protect you and Katie." The blonde had spoken, surprising everyone by including Katie into his assurance.

The girls merely smiled at his proclamation, and sat down, with Jaune in the middle, Alexandra and Katie to his left, with the rest of his team to his right. The baggage had its own transport and would be arriving before them. The bullhead took off, and Alexandra grabbed Jaune's hand in nervousness, lacing their fingers in the process, while the blonde looked into her eyes, gave off his most assuring smile, and squeezed back. Alexandra's heart had raced, not because of the bullhead, but because of the blonde boy known as Jaune Arc, who could put her fears to rest, and certainly being a hunter-in-training who came from a powerful family certainly didn't hurt her budding affections for him. She merely squeezed back and laid her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes, and savouring the moment. This however, had not gone unnoticed by the rest of the girls.

It was then that the pilot had told them they were an hour or so from their destination –LZ Sierra – so they had decided a little nap wouldn't hurt.

They were awoken by the intercom announcing that they'd reach their LZ in 5 minutes. Jaune detached his had from Alexandra -earning a whine from the girl - and proceeded to quip his weapons on his person, making sure to be prepared, just in case, while his fellow teammates proceeded to do the same.

A little later, the pilot had come on the intercom to inform them that they`d now arrived. The bullhead descended before it opened its doors, letting the group out. When they`d looked at the sky, it was still bright out, and looking at his Scroll, it was around 5 pm. The group walked forward before Katie had pulled out a video camera, recording them. Jaune had raised his eyebrows and Alexandra answered for him.

"Ozpin informed you that the journey will be live streamed to the world, correct?"

Jaune thought for a second before nodding and answering.

"Yeah sorry, I guess I must've forgotten."

Alexandra merely waved him off and had told him it was fine.

They had walked for a few more hours, trying to get as much distance before the sun had set. Seeing orange and purple in the sky, he merely told them they'd be setting up camp when they'd find a suitable location. Going away from the main road, they found a clearing that Jaune had deemed satisfactory, he gathered firewood while the girls set up tents. When he got back, he made a decent sized fire in the middle of the camp.

When night fell, they all huddled around the fire, telling stories and getting to know each other. When Katie had yawned Jaune had deemed it time to sleep. They protested at first, but Jaune had eased them into doing so, and Jaune would take up the first watch, then Serena, and lastly, Lyanna, with Talisa starting first watch the next night.

The girls bid Jaune a good night, and he merely poked the dying fire with a stick before settling up on a tree. He looked into the broken moon, thinking about his life, what he'd done, the choices he'd made, the consequences of those decisions, what he could've done, what he _should've _done. He'd thought about the Arc Family Legacy, and his duties and responsibilities as heir. Not only must he train to be an excellent fighter, a level headed man for business and negotiations, and, and other reasons that Jaune couldn't remember, except for _one, important, detail_, an heir. Yes, Jaune Arc, the 'Lady Killer' as Yang calls him, has to actually find a girl who's willing to spend the rest of her life with him, and produce an heir for the Arc family. Yes, that'll be quite an easy feat for him... _not. _

He was brought out of his musings by an alarm, indicating that his watch is over, so he hopped off the branch and walked towards camp. He looked for the tent that Serena had occupied and lightly shook the girl awake, telling her that it was her turn, bid her a good morning, and went to his tent, removed his shirt, took off his pants and switched them with shorts, curled into his sleeping bag, curled into his sleeping bag, and closed his eyes, filling his head with the thoughts of his team, their escort for Alex and Katie, his decisions to come and- no. Doing this now will not be good, so he willed his mind to think about other things, _nicer_ things, and so thoughts of Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren occupied his thoughts as the darkness of sleep had consumed him.

* * *

**And that, ladies and gentlemen, is chapter 4! The poll closes on April 8th, so if you haven't yet, vote for who you think Jaune should end up with. Here are the standings now:  
**

**Harem: 21**

**Yang: 13**

**Ruby: 12**

**Weiss: 9**

**Pyrrha: 9**

**Serena: 3**

**Lyanna: 3**

**Talisa: 2**

**The next update for this would most likely be after the next update for _The Great War._**


	5. A Nightmare and A Bond

Jaune was in a clearing, a wide, open clearing. He saw his friends huddled around a camp fire, which was strange since it was at the very least noon. He shrugged it off and jogged towards them, he yelled a greeting and waved over to them, and when they saw the blonde approach they each gave their own cry of acknowledgment. When he got there, the main topic of conversation was the heat, evident by the amount of ice and fans that were found in the area. However, a horde of Grimm had approached them, there were a variety of them, from the standard Beowolves to Ursa and then Deathstalkers, from the looks of them however, there had to be at the very _least _a few hundred. He drew Crocea Mors and prepared for battle and looked towards his friends, who had already drawn their weapons.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to talk battle formations, a loud screeching had interrupted him, and when he looked towards the source of the noise, he felt his hands loosen and heard the soft _clink_ as Crocea Mors fell to the ground beneath him. Soon, it was followed by similar noises as the others' weapons had joined Crocea Mors on the ground, with the look of unadulterated terror evident in the teens' faces, for there, above them, was what could possibly be the largest Nevermore they had ever seen. It was so big that when it got closer its massive wings had blocked out the sun. While everyone was paralyzed with fear, Jaune started giggling at first until it escalated into full blown laughter.

Everyone looked at him like he was insane until he looked at them with a bloodthirsty expression and crimson red eyes to boot.

"You were all complaining about the heat. Well thanks to that Nevermore, now, well we're fighting in the shade." Jaune had finished his explanation with another hearty chuckle. The others merely stuck with their horrified faces before Jaune had dashed off, picking up his ever trusty sword and shield, and ran for the horde head-on. The other 7 merely watched in horror as the blonde knight of JNPR ran around killing Grimm. He had beheaded an Ursa and kicked its body towards a pack of Beowolves and throwing the head at a Deathstalker. He had run towards the stunned Deathstalker before thrusting Crocea Mors hilt deep into its brain, killing it. Afterwards he used the body as a springboard and leapt towards the giant Nevermore. He concentrated the majority of his aura into his right arm, and when the Nevermore was in rage, he drew back and threw Crocea Mors directly at where the softest part of the skull of the flying beast would be.

After a few painfully slow seconds, the ancient heirloom had connected with its mark, it was thrown with such power that the sword had actually gone _through_ the head of the Nevermore, before the beast gave one last dying screech and fell beak first towards the ground, and made an earth shaking noise as it made contact with the ground. After seeing this, the rest of the Grimm had backed off, and Jaune had fell to the ground, in a classic action hero pose, with his right knee on the ground, and his right fist embedded in the ground, holding him up. When he walked to his friends he was expecting some remarks about his battle style, however, he was met with a different reception, horror, disgust, fear.

"You-you're a monster..." Weiss had stammered.

Ren could only look away in disgust.

Ruby had turned her back towards him, her sniffles and crying shook her small body.

Blake shook her head, before gripping Gambol Shroud tightly.

Yang's lilac eyes had shifted to her fiery red after calling him a bloodthirsty killer.

Pyrrha had tears in her eyes, horrified at what her partner and crush had become.

Nora merely shook her head, with some tears in her eyes.

Yang had charged at him, with her intent to kill spewing out of her like lava leaving a volcano. Weiss had followed her, using her glyphs to propel her forward with Myrtenaster aimed towards Jaune's heart. Jaune felt betrayed but when Yang brought her fist propelled by Ember Celica's shotgun blast and aimed for his face. Jaune had blocked the blow with his shield, denting the metal. He bashed her with his shield, knocking her back. He heard the sudden _whoosh _that Weiss had made as he passed him, he used Crocea Mors to knock Myrtenaster out of her hand, and he hip checked her away. He then heard gunshots as he barely managed to protect his face, once the bullets stopped he saw Blake and Ren lower their weapons to change the magazine, and just as he was about to shift his focus back on them, he heard a gun fire and felt his chest explode in fiery pain as he was propelled forward, sending him tumbling into the ground. He put his right hand on his chest and looked at the big wound, with blood leaving his body, and just then he heard the boom of thunder immediately followed by the downpour of rain. When he looked at the source of the shot, he was stunned. There she was, the 15 year old leader of team RWBY, the girl who had helped him through hardships and motivated him to be a better leader - in a nice way - to his team.

She had just shot him.

He saw Nora ready Magnhild and Pyrrha lift up Milo and Akuo, that had been it.

He stood up, with rage and betrayal coursing through his veins, he disregarded the wound he had taken, and his normally pure white aura had turned a malevolent black, and had swirled around him. With a battle cry he charged forward, Crocea Mors finding the heart of Yang Xiao Long, instantly killing her. He brought up his shield and slammed it down edge first into Weiss Schnee's head, splitting it in half. He had then removed his sword from Yang's dead body and threw it at the stunned Lie Ren, with the blade flying horizontally, had cut Ren in half. He heard Nora scream and rushed to her, and threw the shield horizontally, hitting Nora in the mouth and slicing the top half of her skull off.

Where Ren goes, Nora shouldn't be far away.

The feeling of hatred only grew stronger. The treacherous voice in his head certainly didn't help. _Kill them, kill them all. You say how they acted, they had tried to kill you, and called you a MONSTER after YOU defended THEM. Go ahead; show them what a true monster looks like._

He complied.

He created a jagged, black wispy great sword with his malevolent aura, and charged at Blake, albeit slower than the other times. She raised her weapon to parry the swing, and was immediately surprised when the sword had passed through Gambol Shroud and cut her head off. Ruby screamed and used her semblance to charge at him, which worked in Jaune's favour. He sidestepped her and aimed his sword at her heart. Her silver eyes widened before closing her eyes and accepting her fate, and in a gruesome tearing of flesh, the sword was hilt deep in the body of Ruby Rose.

All that was left was Pyrrha. Being the champion she was, she still fought him, even knowing that she was going to die. She switched Milo into its rifle form and unloaded at Jaune, he blocked all the shots and when she was empty, Pyrrha once again switched Milo to its sword form. Jaune had somehow retrieved Crocea Mors and they came to blows. Jaune swung high which was blocked by Akouo, and Pyrrha swung low, which was blocked by the Knight's shield. They went back-and-forth like this for some time, before Pyrrha started showing signs of fatigue. Jaune noticed that her swings her lower and slower each time and she would barely raise Akouo in time to block Crocea Mors. Jaune bashed his shield with hers and swept his leg under hers, knocking her into the ground, and as she fell, he stabbed Crocea Mors into her stomach and hit her spine, paralyzing her from the waist down.

Pyrrha let out a cry of pain as Jaune drove his sword deeper into her. He licked his lips at the sight of a disabled Pyrrha Nikos. The 4-time Mistral Champion had gone down to his blade, he was victorious, he had _won._ He looked at her face as she slowly succumbed to unconsciousness. He charged aura at his right foot, walked over to her, lifted his boot and stomped it down at her face, which made a horrible squishing noise as his boot made contact. He removed his dirtied boot and moved back a bit. He observed the scene before him, the dismembered bodies of his former friends and teammates, with blood decorating the ground, and some of their blood on him.

He looked up at the sky, the rain hitting his face as the thunder boomed once more. The rain that had rolled down his face was soon accompanied by tears, _his _tears. His body started shaking and his knees gave out on him, he cradled the body of his former partner and teammate in his hands. The blood lust and rage had left his system, instead replaced by immense amounts of guilt. He looked up at the sky and as he held the broken body of Pyrrha Nikos, he let out a loud, long and separate cry into the heavens. He took Milo, which was still in its sword form, aimed it at his heart, and stabbed himself, letting the darkness cover him.

* * *

Jaune had shot up out of his bed, he was breathing heavily, his eyes were widened in panic and he was covered in cold sweat. He took several deep breaths, slowly calming himself. '_It's just a dream, they're still alive. It's just a dream, they're still alive'_. It was like a mantra to him as he said it repeatedly, calming himself down. Eventually he dried himself with his shirt, stood up and went out of his tent and greeted the girls. Katie had her camcorder out and pointed it at Jaune, letting out a little wolf whistle. Alexandra had blushed a bright red and turned away. Selena and Talisa smirked to each other and stood up to hug their blonde knight. They sat down and had breakfast, which had consisted of pork sausage, eggs and juice, and later being informed that Lyanna will be having her breakfast while finishing out her last few minutes.

Later Lyanna had returned while they were putting the tents away, and continuing their journey towards Vacuo. Jaune had pulled out his scroll and checked their coordinates. From his information, it's estimated that they're now a few days walk from Vacuo, and it'll take another 7-9 days before getting to their destination. He had informed the rest of the rest of the party, and told them about the village that was only a few days away, and that they should restock their supplies and rest for a bit there. Everyone nodded in agreement before continuing.

* * *

_Yang_

Even though Vomit Boy's only been gone for 2 days, it feels like a century. While Yang was here stuck in Professor Port's class listening to him droning on about his so called 'Glory Days', her mind can't help but fall back to thoughts of her fellow blonde, Jaune. She thought of when her feelings for the blonde goof had started, sending her to a flashback of an outing a few weeks ago.

* * *

_{FLASHBACK}_

Teams RWBY and JNPR were sent on a solo test and were to bring back a relic from an unspecified location in a large, humid jungle climate. Yang had been dropped off from the bullhead into the jungle and let her instincts take over. She followed a freshwater river hoping to find something worthwhile. After 5 minutes of traveling she found a cave in clearing in the distance. She jogged over to it, readying Ember Celica, just in case. Before she reached the cave however, a hissing sound was heard behind her, and she quickly jumped to her side, just so, as a crash was heard, and when she looked back, a black King Taijitu stood where she did seconds ago. With a hiss the oversized snake shot towards her, she dodged to the side and charging up Ember Celica, she punched it in the eye, having her whole right arm go into the snake, killing it. Removing her blood and brain specked arm, she put her hands on her knees and panted, catching her breath.

"Well that was surprisingly easy." Yang had said, looking over to the Taijitu's body and examining her handiwork. However, just as she finished her remark, she heard a hissing noise immediately followed by the sight of a white Taijitu, an extremely _pissed _Taijitu. This one slowly made its way towards her, slithering like the snake it was. In the distance however, a loud roar was heard in the distance followed by at least 3 more, and the rumbling of the earth had sent her glance away from her current opponent towards her right side, and then from the tree line, she saw 4 large Ursa Major. Just as her attention left the white snake however, it capitalized on her being distracted on shot forward with its jaw open and fangs baring. She immediately moved to the side and wound her arm, about to hit it just like she did to its black counterpart, when the roaring of the Ursa and its charging had thrown her off. She jumped away from the snake and looked to the 4 Ursa charge at her. She dodged one's claw swipe and blocked the others. She kicked it away and using her right foot, she launched away from the bears. However, she saw one charge her left and heard another's roar from behind. As if to make things worse, she saw the Taijitu charge at her, while the other 2 Ursa she had gone away from had regrouped and were joining the attack.

'_Just fucking wonderful.'_ Yang had thought.

She had slammed her fists together and with a loud cry, energy started swirling around her as her eyes turned from her normal lilac to crimson red. She swung her leg backwards as it caught the Ursa on its jaw. She heard a sickening crunch coming from the Ursa she had just hit and saw it fly back a few feet. She immediately landed and shot forward to the Ursa on her left and wound her right arm back. In response the Ursa just wound its left arm and prepared to meet Yang's fist with its own claws. When fist met claw however, the fist won, and smashed through the bears paw and hit the Ursa right in the face. She felt her fist get squished into the Major's face, sending it miles away. She focused her attention to the other 2 Ursa and the lone Taijitu. She swore under her breath as she felt her aura draining. Although it had only been a few minutes, she had put a considerate amount of aura in her attacks and movements, if she didn't find a way to end this soon, she would die.

'_Alright well, I could hold off both Ursa until I kill the Taijitu, but then the snake would just wait for the right time to strike while I'm distracted, like it did when I first encountered the 4 Ursa. I certainly can't single in on the Taijitu either, because if I do, the other 2 Ursa would surely rip me to shreds, and with my aura draining as it is, the longer I draw this out, the worse my chances. Dammit, think Yang, think!'_ While Yang was deciding on how to proceed next, the 2 Ursa and lone Taijitu worked together, surprising Yang. The Ursa would distract her, while the Taijitu would throw in a few strikes here and there, trying to find her weak spot. In her thoughts she was distracted for a split second however, and that was all that the creature needed. With a swipe of its tail the Taijitu hit Yang, but not before a well placed swipe on her back from an Ursa had sent her barreling towards the forest. She smashed through a few trees before stopping as she hit another one. She gauged that her aura was into the red and felt blood seeping from her back, and the tail strike that the Taijitu gave her did a number on her body, as it was scaled and had cut her up. She knew that if she didn't do something soon, this was the end of her journey, as she started to do so, he felt her right arm hang uselessly at her side, and her left was bent at an odd angle, with a piece of bone sticking out. Her legs were fine compared to her arms, there were cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing a good day of rest couldn't heal. She saw the three make their way towards her, and the Taijitu was the fastest, its jaw opened even wider than its black counterpart and she saw venom coating the fangs.

'_This is it huh? This is really it? Dying in my 1__st__ year, this is the final chapter on the story of Yang Xiao Long.'_ Yang closed her eyes as she waited for the inevitable to come, with a single tear leaving her eye. _'I hope it doesn't hurt too much.'_ The strike however, never came.

Instead she heard a shout and the clatter of bone hitting metal, and the sound of a struggle. Opening her eyes, she saw her blonde counterpart, Jaune Arc. He was standing in front of her, holding his shield with both arms, blocking the strike of the Taijitu, and the Arc family heirloom Crocea Mors planted behind his feet to give him some traction. With a yell he summoned aura to his arms and legs and he pushed the snake away, picking up Crocea Mors and swinging at the 2 Ursa. He blocked a swipe from one as he beheaded the other. When the last Ursa swiped again, he cut off its arm and sliced its head off clean from its body, falling to the ground with an audible _THUD_. He then pools aura around his feet and springs forward, leaving a white and yellow trail behind him.

He catches up to the Taijitu and cuts it in half, before driving Crocea Mors hilt deep into the Taijitu's skull, killing it. At this point Yang was losing a lot of blood, and slowly but surely was losing consciousness. She – barely – saw Jaune sprint to her, and pull out his scroll.

"This is Jaune Arc, requesting immediate CASEVAC; I repeat I request an immediate CASEVAC. My current coordinates are Whiskey Tango Sierra." Jaune had finished, talking to the operator on his scroll.

"We read you loud and clear Arc. There's an LZ, LZ Alpha, which is 2 clicks north of you. You should go if you can make it, there's a bird waiting for you."

"Understood, Arc out." With that Jaune put his scroll away, but not before popping Yang's bone in her left arm and tried to hold her right arm still, he pumped a good amount of his aura into her, filling her with a warmness and sense of peace. She saw the sweaty face of her saviour, with the light sheen of sweat covering his upper lip and beads of sweat dripping from his face with some landing on her. She saw him lift her up bridal style, and all she could think of was how warm and safe she felt before unconsciousness took her.

_{FLASHBACK OVER}_

* * *

Yang let out a content sigh as she finished her memory of that day. After that outing Jaune had explained that he had recently finished finding his own relic before hearing the sound of fighting and went to investigate. When he saw how Yang had been cornered and beaten, he immediately rushed in to help her. After that, the medics had informed her that the only reason she was able to continue her career as a huntress-in-training was because Jaune had poured over half his aura in order to help her, and normally when someone pours their aura into someone else, healing would normally happen. But because Jaune poured over half of his aura into her, they had formed a link, a link that can only be broken by death. She also learned that Jaune had given her his relic, which technically means he had failed the mission while Yang passes. Of course, Yang and everyone else was pissed at that but Jaune had assured them – Yang mostly – that he did what he _knew_ was right, and if given the chance, he would do so again.

Yang had begun to see Jaune in a new light even before that happened. She knew there was something special in him, but she would pass that off as teasing. But when that happened and what he did for her, she couldn't help but stop thinking of him as a boy, but a man, even though he retained his nickname of Vomit Boy. Although he may need an upgrade from Vomit 'Boy' to 'Man'. She knew that the battle for Jaune's heart is going to be a hard one, with the fact that she has to compete with not only her team, but with Pyrrha and SLT as well, hell, even most of the female population of Beacon and Vale have heard of him. Plus the fact that he comes from a prestigious family means that other people who also come from well known families like Weiss would have a good shot at him too. Damn, this just got a whole lot harder. A sudden wave of chills took her however, and caused her to shiver quite loudly, catching the attention of everyone in the room, including Professor Poo-Port.

"Is there a problem, Ms. Xiao Long?" He had asked, wriggling his eyebrows as he did so.

Yang had to really, really, _really _try hard not to puke.

"No, no Professor Port. That was my bad."

With that, the professor had droned on with his boring lecture, while her team and (J)NPR gave her worried glances. She merely looked away from them and kept her sight forward.

'_What the hell was that? Was that Jaune? Is he in trouble? Maybe he had a nightmare... I should message him.' _Yang had thought, while whipping out her scroll and scrolling through her contacts, she found him under the name of _'Vomit Boy'_, with 3-4 hearts after the name.

_Yang: Hey Jaune, how's the mission so far? I know it's only been 2 days but I'm really curious, respond to me when you can, also I have some good news for you! You've been promoted from Vomit 'Boy' to... wait for it... Vomit 'Man'! How exciting is that? I really love the necklace you gave me, especially the part where your Arc was with my Flame, are ya tryin' a drop a hint Vomit Man;) ?_

After hitting send, she closed the text app and played this game where you have to cross the road, but there were obstacles like cars and trucks. It was fun but really annoying. After a few attempts Yang began losing her cool and started to get really annoyed, and just as she was about to give up, she heard someone clear their throat in front of her, and when she looked up, it was the annoyed face of Professor Poo-Port.

"Ms. Xiao Long, may I please have your scroll? Also seeing as you were too busy with playing mindless games you shall owe me 10 minutes of afternoon detention."

Yang nodded her head and handed over her scroll to the man.

'_Well, fuck.'_

* * *

_Unknown_

In a bland white room, two figures sat beside each other on a couch. They wore the standard uniform of the White Fang and were discussing where they were being stationed at and for how long when there was a knock coming from the door. The first figure got up and answered the door, and immediately dropped dead as a sword was seen leaving his heart. The second figure attempted to stand up when they were engulfed in fire. Attempting to put the fire out, the man didn't see the cane hit him on the side of the head, knocking him out. A figure chuckled darkly at the display.

"Really Roman? You couldn't let me have my fun, if only for a little while?" A sultry feminine voice had asked.

"Oh please Cinder, your meaning of fun is very much different from mine." Roman had answered.

"Be quiet you. Now that we've taken out the traitors, what's our next move?" A gruff voice asked.

"Yes, Taurus has got the right question. What exactly _are _we going to do now, Fall?" Roman had asked.

Cinder chuckled once more before turning away and walking out the door, but not before she whispered her answer.

"Jaune Arc."


	6. A Village and A Cindering Plan

_A Few Days Later_

_Jaune_

The group of 6 had soon arrived at the gates of the small village. The gate was a wooden arch that had the words _'Welcome to Dew Village'_. They were walking on the dirt path and immediately headed to check into a motel to stay in for a day or two. They passed villagers who had looks of adoration on their faces, and since it was midday the streets were filled with people and the village was busy – as busy as a small village could be – before Jaune saw a mini store. He quickly told them that SLT should go with Alex and Katie and go find the motel and book a few rooms while he would buy supplies. They were hesitant at first but he quickly reassured them that they have his Scroll number and could keep in touch. They agreed and they left, while he walked into the store.

The store was simple, a few shelves with food, some necessities, and fridges filled with various drinks. He walked over to a shelf and got 3-4 bags of marshmallows, chocolates, and some graham crackers to make s'mores the next time they camp out at night. Next he got some sausages, eggs and bacon, some cooking oil, a few bottles of water, some juice, and some more VitaminWater. He quickly went to the cashier and paid for his items, 200 lien in total, and fished out his scroll, to ask Serena where the motel they were staying was. He quickly got the name and headed over. The Holton was a quaint little motel, it was 3 stories tall, and the building was white in colour. He stepped in and his quaint impression on the place was correct, some plants were set up, a red carpet lined the floor and a homely woman had manned the desk. She had raven hair and stunning blue eyes, she looked to be about his age, give or take a year or two. They locked eyes for a few seconds, before Jaune walked up to her and asked her where his friends were staying, giving information about them, and she had told him that they were on the third floor, 4th room to the left, and walked over there, carrying the bags of stuff he'd gotten.

When he'd gotten to the correct room, he opened it using the key the lady – Patricia was her name – had given him. When he opened it, he saw Katie on her laptop uploading the video she's recorded since they began their trip onto Alex's website. They saw Jaune and greeted him, helping him with the bags.

"Hey Jaune, what'd you get?" Lyanna asked.

"Well I got some things to make s'mores for the next time we go camping, some drinks and food and stuff. Just some stuff, ya know?"

"Jaune, your team will share a room together, but you'll be bunking with me and Katie." Alex had told him.

Jaune barely managed to sputter out a response.

"Bu-bu-bunking wi-with you? Why?" This time Katie responded.

"Because each room can only barely fit three people, and they only had 2 rooms left. It was a no brainer since you lead your own team and are a sub for Darwin." She had said with confidence.

"That, that makes sense." Was all he could say.

"Excellent! Now, how long are we going to stay here for?" Alex had asked him.

"A day or two at most, afterwards we should only be a week or so from the Schnee Hotel in Vacuo."

"Alright then, perhaps we should un-pack our stuff then." SLT went next door to their room, leaving Jaune with Alex and Katie, who too started setting up.

Jaune put his bag down onto the floor, and looked around the room. There was nothing exceptional about the room, it had red carpeting, white walls, a mediocre sized window, a TV, two lamps, a bathroom, and... two beds. Jaune quickly thought of how the sleeping situation was going to be, and thought that either Alex and Katie were going to share one bed while he takes the other, or he'll be staying on the floor while they each get their own. He voiced out his question.

"So, um since there are two beds here, who's gonna have which?" He asked the two. Katie was the first to respond.

"We've talked about and we've decided to push the two beds together, since it'll create enough room. If Alex and I were to share a bed, it'd be cramped, so it's better for everyone this way." Jaune could only look gobsmacked before slowly nodding his head.

"Good, now that's settled, why don't we finish up, get dressed, get SLT and have dinner? I'm hungry." Katie had said.

"Dinner wouldn't be such a bad idea." Alex had stated.

"I guess so, let me get changed first and I'll go get the girls." Jaune said, picking up some clothes and walking to the bathroom. He took off his shirt, pants and socks before putting on a white v-neck with black skinny jeans, green socks and a new pair of slip-ons he'd bought (think of the classic Vans slip-ons). He opened the door, and heard the two compliment him on his attire and thanking them before leaving the room and knocking on SLT's.

After a few seconds, Talisa had opened the door, wearing a lavender shirt with a white skirt. She whistled at the sight of Jaune, to which the boy could only give a small, nervous chuckle.

"So we're gonna go out for dinner, do you gals wanna come?"

"Sure, just give us a few minutes. Nice look Jaune, although I can't help but feel it's missing something." Before Jaune could ask, she ran to get something, and reappeared a few seconds later, holding a pair of black sunglasses, and gave it to him. He took it and put it on.

"There ya go Jaune, you look even better now! Give us a few minutes to get dressed and we'll meet you at your room." With that they bid each other a farewell before Jaune went back to his room, and saw that Alex and Katie had changed. Alex was wearing a yellow sundress while Katie wore a loose white shirt with ruffles and a pair of black jeans. He quickly complimented them on their outfit changes, and after a few minutes they heard a knock on their door. Jaune stood up and went to the door, opening it, and saw SLT.

Serena was wearing a black shirt, with light brown pants. While Lyanna was wearing a green shirt that had a black bear on it, and black pants. They greeted each other before Alex and Katie stepped out to join them in the hallway. Jaune locked the door and they proceeded to go to the village's restaurant. It was a decent place, considering its location. They ordered from the simple menu, with Jaune getting a cheese burger, Alex a simple tuna sandwich, Katie a ham sandwich, and SLT ordering a variety of salads and omelettes.

They talked about random things, varying from their past life to past crushes. Alex talked about a guy who had caught her eye, he had white hair and purple eyes, and was named Rhaegar.

"He was one of the nicest, sweetest and compassionate guys I've ever met. He was a hunter, like you guys. He was in a special unit that dealt with terrorism, and so on a daily basis he would be sent out to deal with the White Fang. Whenever he was free, he would always take me on these dates, and this one time he took me on a picnic, where we saw the beauty of the sunset, and went star gazing on top of a hill, it was absolutely amazing. It wasn't meant to last however, because one day, his unit was ambushed by the White Fang, who had thrown bait that lured horde's of Grimm to their location. Everyone was wiped out, not a single soul remained. And so, every time I look up at the sky, I see him." Alex finished, with some tears in his eyes, to which Katie had comforted her. JSLT could only look at her, not knowing how the loss of a significant other felt like, and hoped that they never would. But with their line of work, it was bound to happen.

They spent a few hours after that talking about other things as well, like why they chose to be Hunters and Huntresses, what they plan on doing after graduating from Beacon, and so on and so on. Serena became a Huntress because the lifestyle intrigued her, while Lyanna was in it for the adventure, and Talisa did it on a whim.

They then noticed that the sun had set and it was now around 9pm, and decided to go back to the Holton and get some sleep. SLT went to their own room while Jaune, Alex and Katie went to theirs. They pushed the bed together, and Jaune went to the bathroom to go change, while the girls changed in the room. Jaune stripped to his boxers, and wore a white shirt and shorts, and waited for the girls to finish. Once they gave the all clear sign – where he would ask through the bathroom door and they'd say either yes or no – he stepped out of the bathroom. He saw that Alex had her hair in a bun while Katie had hers in a ponytail. They were both wearing night gowns, although Alex's was a light lavender while Katie's was a dark blue. Jaune went in the middle, while Alex was on his right and Katie on his left. Jaune felt arms warp around his chest and saw that both girls used him as a cuddling pillow. He blushed a crimson colour before slowly relaxing and letting sleep consume him, hopefully this time with no nightmares about killing RWBY and (J)NPR... hopefully.

* * *

_At Beacon_

_Ruby_

Things have been a lot different since Jaune left for his mission. They – as in RWBY and (J)NPR – were worried about Jaune and had him in their minds constantly, fearing for his safety. Ruby had known of the other girls' feelings for her blonde knight. She knows that she can't compete with them, Weiss was pretty, rich and famous, Blake was attractive, mysterious and smart, her sister Yang was... Yang. And finally, there was the 4 time Mistralian champion and red head Pyrrha, who was Jaune's own _partner_. Against an all-star team like that, she surely has no chance against them... right? But if Ruby could beat Roman Torchwick and his goons and get a spot in the prestigious Beacon Academy 2 years _early_, then maybe she has a chance. She remembered when her feelings for the bumbling knight grew, it was a few days before he was assigned on a mission...

* * *

_[FLASHBACK]_

Ruby had a hard day's worth of training, and when she returned from the arena to her dorm, she heard people whispering about her.

"_What a show off, being here 2 years early and thinking she's all that, please."_

"_I know, anyone can do that. The little brat's lucky she's got that overpowered semblance and that ridiculous gun scythe, otherwise she'd never even step foot in a hunter school, let alone Beacon."_

After she heard that, Ruby felt a deep pang in her chest, the feeling of sadness, knowing that you were hated. Ruby was young, and hasn't ever dealt with a situation like this before, so she could do what the first thing that popped into her head was... run, fast. Using her _'overpowered'_ semblance she flitted to a lone hill where she was certain she was alone, and cried her heart out. She had thought about their words, and starting doubting herself.

"Are they right? Do I not belong here? Do I owe what I am to my semblance and Crescent Rose?" She asked to no one in particular, but was answered by a familiar blonde haired knight.

"No, they're not right. You do belong here, Ruby Rose. And no, you don't owe what you are to your semblance or your weapon." She was surprised and turned around to see her fellow leader, Jaune Arc. He took a seat beside her and wrapped his arms around her, and all the thoughts of self doubt were gone when she was in his warm embrace.

"Ruby I saw what happened, and I was about to talk to you about it but you ran off. Don't worry though, those people won't be talking a lot for a few days, in fact they may not be doing much of anything." She let out a giggle at that, and it was music to Jaune's ears.

"Don't worry Ruby, I'll always be here to comfort you, to protect you, no matter what. I'll be your knight in shining armour." Ruby looked up to her friend, her silver eyes moistening as her voiced trembled.

"You-you promise?" Jaune nodded, and hugged her tighter.

"I promise, and an Arc never goes back on their word." If at all possible, Ruby squirmed to get closer to him, Jaune laughed at the younger girls cute display. His laughter rumbled throughout his body, causing Ruby to feel his body rumble, and blushed at their intimacy. Jaune fished out his Scroll and looked at the time,

"Hey Ruby, it's about 4pm right now, how about I take you around the city for a bit, get your minds off things, whatd'ya say?" Ruby nodded into his chest, making Jaune chuckle at the action, before getting up, and bringing Ruby with him. They walked to the bullhead docks and took one to the city. They had spent the next few hours walking around, visiting various stores, even buying Ruby some sweets and getting a few new issues of X-Ray and Vav for himself, to which Jaune paid for everything, of course. When they'd finished their so called 'date' and reach the hallways of Beacon, they stopped at team RWBY's door. Ruby looked at Jaune with a grateful smile on her face.

"Thanks for today, Jaune. You really helped me out today, and helped me get my mind off all the distractions, you didn't have to pay for everything you know."

"Ruby, I don't want to sound conceded but I _am_ the heir off one of the most respected and wealthiest families in all of Remnant. What's the point of having money if you don't spend it on your friends?" Jaune had answered.

"Well, still, but thank you though, really." Ruby had answered, closing her eyes. Jaune poked her forehead with his index and middle finger (think of what Itachi does to Sasuke), surprising the ravenette.

"Think nothing of it Ruby, I told you I'd protect and comfort you, besides, if you ever feel down again, just let me know and I'll take you out again, how does that sound?" Ruby could only blush at the question, excited for another 'date' with Jaune, and she furiously nodded her head.

"Great, now we should get going, I'm sure our teams must be wondering where we are, goodnight Ruby." Jaune had said, before waving at her and walking to his dorm, leaving her alone in the hallway.

"Night, Jaune..." Ruby had mumbled, and went inside her dorm, she was met with a crushing hug from her sister Yang and a screech from Weiss.

"Where've you been Rubes? We've been looking all over for you." Yang had said.

"You DOLT! You've had us scrambling all over Beacon for you!" Weiss had screeched, her voice rising an octave higher each time.

Ruby had explained what had happened, seeing Yang, Weiss and Blake get mad at the comments of the people, but have their faces soften at what had happened with Jaune, and even elicited some looks of jealousy from the three, not that Ruby had noticed.

"Well, that sounds... delightful." Weiss had said.

"It was." Ruby had said almost dreamily, further eliciting more looks of jealousy from the three, and once again Ruby being oblivious to it.

"Well, that was awfully lovely of Vomit Boy, maybe I should take him out on a date myself." Yang had said.

"No you dolt you can't do that!" Weiss had said. Yang's eyebrow rose as a smirk formed on her mouth.

"And why not, Snow Angel?" Yang had said, using Jaune's nickname for her, against her.

"BECAUSE YOU DO-" She was interrupted by Ruby telling everyone to go to sleep, to which they hesitantly agreed, and that night all 4 girls had dreamt of a blonde haired blue eyed knight coming to save them.

_[FLASHBACK OVER]_

* * *

Ruby sighed before walking over to her dorm, and laying on her bed. It was currently 5pm, and it was too early to sleep, but she didn't care. She pulled out Jaune's onesie, where she had gotten from Jaune's closet, and she hugs it and pulls it closer to her, that has his intoxicating scent on it, and she always does that whenever she gets sad or misses him. She put on a sleep mask and went to sleep, dreaming of a blonde haired knight cooking her up the best chocolate chip cookies Remnant's ever seen, err tasted.

* * *

_With Cinder_

Cinder was currently with Mercury and Emerald in a room, talking about future plans.

"You want us to what?" Mercury had asked.

"You heard me, just do what I say, and everything'll be fine." Cinder had stated.

"But... with Arc... are you sure?" Mercury had asked once again. Cinder looked furious.

"Question me again Mercury and that'll be the last thing, you, ever, _do_." Cinder had said, whispering the last few words, scaring both Mercury _and_ Emerald.

"Y-Yes Cinder." Mercury had said.

"You can leave now." With that, both teenagers had left the room, leaving Cinder alone, she looked at a picture of Jaune and slowly caressed it with her fingers.

"Soon Mr. Arc, very, _very_ soon."

* * *

**That's another chapter! What's Cinder have in store for our beloved hero? Will he _ever_ find out the girls' feelings for him? Probably not on his own. But the next update will be after either _Arcstinction, The Great War, _or _Jaune The SEAL. _Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!  
**


	7. On The Road Once Again

_Jaune_

Jaune had woken up in the morning and had a dreamless sleep. He tried to get up but found himself trapped by limbs, and looking to his side, found the sleeping forms of Katie and Alex. He – once again – blushed, and slowly and carefully, disentangled himself from the duo, and made his way to the window, and opened the blinds with his fingers, and looked outside. The sun was barely rising, and he could already see some of the townsfolk walking around, already having started with their day. He stretched and yawned, before walking in the bathroom and closing the door. He walked to the sink and picked up his toothbrush, and applied a healthy amount of toothpaste before brushing his teeth well for 3 minutes, and once he was done, he emptied his bladder in the toilet, and after he flushed and washed his hands, and stepped into the shower to get clean. Once he was done, he dried himself, before applying deodorant, and changing into a get up of a white V-neck shirt, dark blue shorts, white socks, and black and white slip-ons (Think of the classic Vans) and walked out of the bathroom. There he saw both girls up and awake, and waved at him, to which he waved back.

"Morning gals,"

"Morning Jaune," They both replied in unison.

"So how about we grab some breakfast, come back and leave?" Jaune had asked the both of them. They thought for a second before nodding.

"Sure, just give us some time to prepare." Jaune nodded and made his way to the door, opening it and exiting, walking up to SLT's door before knocking. He pulled out his Scroll to pass the time, and saw that it was currently 7 in the morning, and that he had gotten a few texts form the girls back at Beacon. He clicked at the most recent one, Yang's, and looked at it.

_The Gorgeous Blonde Brawler_

Jaune chuckled at the name, not because it was a lie, but because he – reluctantly – let the girls put their own contact names on his Scroll, and they told him that he couldn't change it, he looked at her message.

_Yang: Hey Jaune, how's the mission going so far? You, by any chance, hadn't had a nightmare, have you? It's just that I got a weird feeling in class the other day, and I'm just checking in. Anyways, get back to me when you can._

Jaune froze at Yang's text, how had she known he had gotten a nightmare? His thoughts however were interrupted when the door opened, revealing a fully dressed Lyanna at the door.

"Mornin' Jaune,"

"As to you too, Lyanna."

"What brings you by?"

"Well I was wondering if you gals would be up for breakfast?"

"Sure, we're all awake, Talisa's in the bathroom preparing. We'll be done in about an hour or so."

"Alright, see ya then." With that he turned back towards his room as the door shut. In the room, he saw a fully dressed Alex and Katie. Alex wore a white shirt, dark purple shorts, and black sandals. Katie wore a gray shirt, black shorts, and black sandals. They both greeted him and he them. Jaune told them of the plan and they both agreed. After an hour, they heard a knock at the door, and Jaune got up from the bed he was sitting on and opened it. The girls wore casual wear and greeted them with hellos.

They left and headed down the streets, looking for a good place to eat. They stopped a few minutes later in front of a diner called "Flo's" and walked in. It was a quaint little place, they sat down and ordered. Jaune had a large plate of bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns and a glass of orange juice. The other 5 had something similar, although less in volume. After having their breakfast, which took a whole hour to complete, they walked back to their rooms, to pack. It was easy, since they only unpacked the absolute necessities, all in all, the process took maybe, 20 minutes. They convened at the hallway and left, earning a goodbye from Patricia, who worked the front desk. After walking for about half an hour, they had left Dew Village, and in 5 minutes, had walked into the familiar foresty area they were accustomed to, after their travels.

* * *

_In Beacon_

_Blake_

The resident ninja of Beacon let out a well concealed sigh as she woke up. She found herself – discreetly – yearning for the blonde knight of JNPR. She had grown up with that hatred of the human race, and her joining the White Fang even after their struggle for independence had turned violent. Even after she'd disconnected her ties with them and especially Adam, things hadn't gotten better, in fact, they'd gotten worse. When she got Beacon, she had a belief that she could change the Faunus society for the better, using her status as a Huntress to better their lives, but after meeting team CRDL, the resident douche hats of Beacon, her dream had ebbed as their time went on, but she later learned that CRDL weren't the only ones who had thought or acted like that, although they would usually be more tact about it. She had lost hope for any reconciliation between humans and Faunus until she met her team and JNPR, especially a blonde haired, blue eyed knight that went by the name of Jaune. She remembered how he'd stand up to bullying, not only towards Faunus, but towards others as well, he was a paragon of chivalry, justice and righteousness. She hopped off of her bed and checked her Scroll, and saw that it was 6 in the morning, she sighed once again and walked into the bathroom, stripped, and when she was in the nude she turned on the shower and went inside. As the warmness of the water had cascaded around her, she remembered her experience with the Arc heir.

* * *

_{FLASHBACK}_

Blake had decided to take a stroll around the city of Vale to relieve some stress and get some alone time. Her team and JNPR were hanging out, but Jaune had excused himself beforehand with the excuse of some extra homework to do. The group of 7 had gotten louder and more rambunctious as the time went on, and being an introvert by nature, Blake had to dip out to get some nice quiet time, which is how she found herself in the streets of the city. She was walking, looking at the stores when a sudden noise alerted her. Normally the noise would barely be loud enough to hear, but thanks to her Faunus heritage, she could hear things exceptionally better than humans. The sound came from an alleyway, and she scaled a building and ran on the rooftops to get a better vantage point. She finally arrived at the scene and saw 5 street children, 3 of whom were Faunus born, were trapped into a corner, while 10 armed men were slowly advancing towards them, muttering threats.

"You filthy animals should've stayed in the Menagerie." The bald headed man with a scar on his mouth had said.

"Yeah, now we'll make sure you filthy mutts don't live to see any day." The man with thin brown hair had said, earning a round of agreement from the others, Blake's blood had boiled at the sight of grown, armed men harming children, and just as she was about to rain down hell onto thee, a commanding voice had paralysed her.

"HEY! You leave those children alone!" Everyone had looked at the entrance of the alleyway, and saw a blonde haired, blue eyed teenager wearing a dark blue V-neck, black jeans, and black and white sneakers. The men had seen an annoyance, the children saw a saviour, and Blake saw the missing leader of JNPR.

"What're you gonna do about it boy? There's only one of you and 10 of us, plus you're unarmed while we have weapons." The man had said, holding his baseball bat while the other men brought out their weapons to prove a point. Jaune only maintained a cool façade, but his eyes burned with fury.

"That might be true," Jaune had said, cracking his neck and hands before continuing. "But I, am a Hunter-in-training." With that, he charged forward and punched the man holding the bat so hard in the stomach that he had coughed up blood. The others charged at him, while some had targeted the children. Jaune was fighting off multiple armed men at once, but as soon as he heard the cries of the children, he immediately ran to them, and saw that a man had a machete and was bringing it down on one of the kids' heads. Jaune immediately stood in front of the boy and blocked the swing with his left hand, and felt the pain flare up. Those watching were surprised, as Jaune had his left hand grabbing the blade, with blood pooling and dripping out of his hand, and he used the lull in the battle to his advantage by using his freehand and punching the guy in the face, stunning him and following it up with a roundhouse kick, knocking him out. The remaining men, there were only about 3 remaining, had apparently decided that he was too much effort, and so they tried to run, key word being _tried_ because as soon as they turned around, Jaune was on them in a second. He punched one on the back of the head, hit one on the head with the handle of the machete, and roundhouse kicked the last one. He was panting at the end, and looked back at the children, their faces a mix of admiration and concern, a girl who had black hair, green eyes, and tiger ears, pointed at his left hand, and when Jaune looked, he saw that it was still bleeding horribly, he attempted to calm them down by waving it off but it sprayed blood all over the place, freaking them out even more. Jaune sighed before having his aura heal him, the glowing white colour enveloping his hand, and closing the wound, but leaving a scar. He slowly walked over to them with his hands up in the air, gesturing that he meant them no harm. The kids – slowly and cautiously – approached him. He asked them if they were okay, to which they responded no, and upon seeing their dishevelled state, he had asked them where their parents and or guardians were. They said that they were orphans in the same orphanage, but that the people mistreated them so badly that they had to leave and that they now lived on the street. Jaune felt a pang in his heart as he looked at how they were, and knew he had to do something immediately.

"Would you like to have lunch, it's on me." They looked in surprise before they nodded. Jaune smiled and patted the tiger Faunus' head.

"Where do you wanna go?"

"Someplace that doesn't cost too much mister." The female tiger Faunus had said. He patted the girls head once more.

"And what's your name?"

"Cassandra,"

"Well Cassandra, I do well for myself, and so money isn't an issue." He looked around at the other 4 children before continuing. "So where do you wanna go?"

"McEll's," They all had said, Jaune had smiled before walking towards the entrance of the alleyway. "Well, are you kids coming along?" He playfully asked, and they ran towards the restaurant and they had found that Jaune was going too slow and grabbed his hand as they ran towards the place. Blake had a look of adoration on her face as she'd seen Jaune – a human – stand up towards armed goons with only his fists and legs, for Faunus children no less! Plus, he offered to pay for their food, she felt she needed to learn more about the Arc heir and decided to follow them, she stayed on the rooftops watching them. After their lunch, she had watched Jaune take them to the mall and let them pick out clothes they want, and paid for it. They walked away with 10 bags, two for each kid, and Jaune had bought a hotel room for them, and told them they'd have it for a week, and that he'd visit each day, and that he'd call one of his relatives and ask if she wants to adopt them.

"A-Are you sure?" Cassandra had asked.

"Of course, my Aunt Lily's always wanted to have children, but she's infertile, and so it would be impossible for her and her husband."

"B-But five kids…" The monkey Faunus Elijah had said.

"They always wanted a big family, now get a move on to the hotel." They listened to him and walked to the hotel, it was a 4 star hotel, and they had thanked him before walking inside. Jaune had walked back to the airship docks headed back to Beacon, and boarded. Blake had used her skills to get onto the airship with ease, not being spotted by Jaune and taking a seat in the back. She stared at Jaune for the entire trip, her thoughts occupied by what he had done for those children. She knew that if it was just another human, they probably would've just stood by and let those horrible men do what they planned or doing, or if they interfered, they wouldn't have done much else for the children. She began to wonder what had made Jaune Arc different from the others, and just what exactly made him tick. She saw him looking extremely discomforted and Blake chalked it up to his airsickness taking effect, and she let a small chuckle escape, sure he could town down 10 armed, full grown men weapon less and all by himself but be hindered by something so trivial as airsickness, although she had started to think that maybe Jaune was right, and that airsickness is more common than people think. Her thoughts were broken by the airship landing in Beacon, and Jaune leaving and heading to the training arena, while Blake walked back to her team's dorm.

{FLASHBACK OVER}

* * *

Blake was still in the shower, and when she began to think about what Jaune had done, especially how he looked when he fought those men, how his voice sounded when he talked to those men, how he looked so good, how he'd look with his shirt off, how good he might be in be- Blake cut those thoughts off by making the shower colder, to school her thoughts, however she heard a knocking from the door and the rambunctious voice of her partner.

"HEY BLAKE! HURRY UP IN THERE WILL YA?!" Yang had said, before – what Blake assumed – she walked off. However, all Blake could think about was Jaune and what he stood for and represented, hope, and that was something Blake hadn't felt in a while.

* * *

_SOMEWHERE IN THE WOODS NEAR VACUO_

_JAUNE_

They had been travelling for hours now, they had left in the morning and it was now nearing darkness, and so they had decided to find a good place to set up camp. They started pitching the tents and setting up the camp fire, and Jaune hauled up logs where everyone could sit. Once it was dark, and the food was cooking, Jaune had brought out the guitar he had brought with him but never used, it was an acoustic guitar and he decided to play the girls a song, while unbeknownst to him, Katie had pulled out her camcorder and began recording.

**_Thinking Out Loud _by _Ed Sheeran_**

"This song's called _Thinking Out Loud_." Jaune had said, before starting the song.

"**_When your legs don't work like they used to before__  
__And I can't sweep you off of your feet__  
__Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love?__  
__Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks?_**

**_Darlin' I will be lovin' you__  
__Till we're seventy__  
__Baby my heart could still fall as hard__  
__At twenty three_**

**_I'm thinkin' bout how__  
__People fall in love in mysterious ways__  
__Maybe just the touch of a hand__  
__Me, I fall in love with you every single_**_ day__  
__I_**_ just wanna tell you I am_**

**_So honey now__  
__Take me into your lovin' arms__  
__Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars__  
__Place your head on my beating heart__  
__I'm thinking out loud__  
__Maybe we found love right where we are_**

**_When my hair's all but gone and my memory fades__  
__And the crowds don't remember my name__  
__When my hands don't play the strings the same way__  
__I know you will still love me the same_**

**_Cause honey your soul__  
__Could never grow old__  
__It's evergreen__  
__Baby your smile's forever in my mind and memory_**

**_I'm thinkin' bout how__  
__People fall in love in mysterious ways__  
__Maybe it's all part of a plan__  
__I'll just keep on making the same mistakes__  
__Hoping that you'll understand_**

**_That baby now __  
__Take me into your loving arms__  
__Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars__  
__Place your head on my beating heart__  
__I'm thinking out loud__  
__Maybe we found love right where we are_**

**_Baby now__  
__Take me into your loving arms__  
__Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars __  
__Place your head on my beating heart__  
__I'm thinking out loud_**

**_Maybe we found love right where we are__  
__Maybe we found love right where we are__  
_**_**And we found love right where we are.**"_

Jaune had finished the song, and set the guitar down, and looked to the other girls to see their reactions. They were all blown away, with most of them having tears in their eyes, and started clapping.

"That was excellent, Jaune, perhaps the best I've heard in a long, long time." Alex had said, while the girls all nodded, too stupefied to speak. Jaune turned red at the praise, especially one coming from a successful and renowned singer such as Alex Free. He dumbly nodded.

"We should eat now," Jaune had offered, stirring the stew that was cooking. They nodded and brought out their bowls, to which Jaune had filled, and had been thanked. Once he was finished, Jaune had offered to take up first watch, and collected his weapons and left, unbeknownst to him, the girls were planning something.

"So I take it you've recorded our boys performance?" Lyanna had asked.

"Yeah, I have it right here." Katie had said, shaking her camcorder for proof.

"Good, are you going to be uploading that?" Serena had asked.

"Yes, I'll do it right now actually, there's no internet so I'll have to use data, and that'll cost quite a few lien, but hey," She said shrugging, "It's worth it." She said, before retiring to her tent, opening her laptop, connecting it to her camcorder, turning on data and began uploading the footage. It would take quite a while, but hey, she and Alex were well off, so it wouldn't make quite a difference. She closed her eyes and placed her head on her pillow, and began to sleep.

* * *

_IN A REMOTE LOCATION_

_CINDER_

"Is everything ready, Mercury?" She asked the boy.

"Not quite yet, Cinder. The bait's taken quite a while to assemble and we've lost quite a few men in leading them here, I suspect we'll be done in 2 days, no less no more." He was quite scared at his boss' reaction.

"Well no matter, we'll get achieve the results anyways, it might benefit us being patient anyways. Very well, you may go." With that Mercury nodded and left at once, leaving Cinder alone. She pulled out her Scroll and dialled a number. It rang a few times before it picked up.

"Yes Cinder?"

"Roman, are you sure you know what to do?" She could hear a sigh come from the other line.

"Yes Cinder, I'm certain, once you do your thing, we'll grab the singing brat, ransom her away, you get the Arc boy, and we kill the rest, I got it, my men got it."

"Very well then, if something wrong happens on your end, especially with Jaune, you'll have hell to pay."

"What's the deal with this boy anyway, what's so special about him?" Cinder felt herself grow angry but controlled it.

"Well Roman, the boy has a special power, a power that only comes from the Arc bloodline. This power is mainly found in the eyes, you see, and I plan on taking that power for myself, and others."

"You said power in his eyes, how will you take it if it's in his eyes?"

"When you have a defunct organ, my dear Roman, you take it from a donor, are you following me now?" He took a moment to respond.

"Taking a 17 year olds boy's eyes is cruel Cinder, even for you."

"Calm down Roman, it's only one eye I'll be taking, the power would be too much for anyone to handle if they were to take two."

"You also said, you plan on taking that power for yourself and others, who, might I ask, are the others?"

She took a moment to think about whether or not to reveal her answer to him, before deciding against it.

"In due time, Roman, in due time." She had said, before ending the call.

* * *

**That was chapter 7, there are only a few more chapters left, folks! I suspect maybe, five morre chapters, it depends on how I pace the story. I'm supposed to be working on this English assignment I have due tomorrow but I haven't this in quite a while. I've been busy with life, you know since I've gotten my license my parents have been teaching me to drive and I've been skateboarding and preparing for exams. **


	8. Irene

**Hello ladies and gents! This chapter'll be a short one, certainly one of the shortest for this story, but it sets up what goes on in the next chapter. I'll also be addressing some questions you have.  
**

**Undeadhero143:** So in Dragon Age term, Jaune would be a mix between a Berserker and Reaver

**I have never played Dragon's Age before and I had to Google what those two meant (although the Berserker one was obvious) and I'd say he leans towards the Berserker side.**

**Guest: **Is Jaune gonna turn into Big Boss

**Once again, I had no idea what that meant and I had to look it up, to answer, I'd say somewhat.**

**Werewolf2300: **The story is interesting so far. I am a bit curious as to what this power Cinder is after which Jaune possess. but one tiny nit pick is maybe try and cut back on the flashbacks a tiny bit. But its Your story and i personally think this fic is good and i like your Jaune Arc.

**There were reasons for the flashbacks, mainly because I wanted you - the audience - to see that the girls' feelings for Jaune didn't just randomly appear out of nowhere, and I - tried - to show that through flashbacks, like with Blake finding how well Jaune treated the orphans and so on... Also thank you for the feedback.**

**Army Ranger: **HE NEEDS GUNS:BIG GUNS, SMALL GUNS, FUTURE GUNS, OLD GUNS, STUPID GUNS UNACCEPTABLE

**I'm sorry but Jaune won't be getting guns in this story, although there's a possibility he might in the next one.**

**Firewolf99: **Hey there. Loving the story so far- though it kind of bugs me when you don't start a new line for each new person's dialogue. Still, the idea's really cool!

**Thank you for your support, and when I read your comment I realized you were right, it was confusing at times to distinguish who was talking to whom, and that really helped me a lot, thanks for your feedback!**

**Guest: **Dude please have him use crocea mors more often you cound have meld the blades so it can mecha shift from sword and shield to greatsword

**This person was the first person to ever comment on my story, and I would like to give a massive thanks for giving the new guy a shot! And yes, I will have him use Crocea Mors more, it's just that his other weapons need time to shine as well, and I like your idea of having them mecha shift although it won't be happening, apologies.**

**There is also one more thing I'd like to address, and it's the Naruto X-Over listing, thank you to the Guest who'd pointed it out, since I forgot about it. No - and I cannot stress this enough - Naruto characters will appear in this story, only just one thing. Although there _is _a sequel that I'm considering, and maybe then someone from the Naruto verse will appear, but for this story, no characters will appear.**

* * *

_Yang_

Yang was currently in the training room pounding away at training bots, and after punching away the last remaining one, she exhaustedly made her way over to the bench where her stuff lie. She pulled out her Scroll and saw that there was a new entry from Katie on Alex's website. Curious , she opened it and saw that it was a video of Jaune, she opened it saw that he was singing by a campfire, when she was finished with the video, she felt that her feelings for the blonde swordsman couldn't get any bigger than they already were.

She immediately packed her stuff and ran to their dorm, and when she opened it, she was greeted with an empty dorm and a note on the desk. She picked it up and read it.

"_Dear sis,_

_ You were gone when we woke up and assumed you were in the training room, so when you read this you're already back, we're still probably in the caf for some breakfast._

_ -Your sister, Ruby"_

Yang smiled before dropping the note and running to the caf to tell them of what she discovered. When she got there however, the caf was full and all the attention was on the T.V. She looked at saw that it was the gossip reporter Lara Sean. She spotted her team and the remains of JNPR at a table and after grabbing some food walked over to them, and sat beside Ruby and her partner Blake. She looked at Ruby and was about to speak when the younger sibling shushed her and pointed to the screen.

"_Hello Remnant, my name's Lara Sean and I'm here for MTZ. As you all know, the lovely singer Alexandra Free and her friend Katie are making their way to Vacuo, well their escort is a team of hunters and huntresses in training, a team that had been made up for this mission. Jaune Arc the leader, who is actually the leader of team JNPR, is partnered with _THE _Pyrrha Nikos, is seen here, singing a song called _**Thinking Out Loud**, _and my oh my, does he ever look so charming, and the effects of the campfire only add to his good looks. Here was the clip uploaded last night."_ With that, a clip of Jaune singing took hold of the image.

Even though she'd already seen it minutes prior, Yang was still amazed at how beautiful Jaune's voice, and his skill with the guitar, she suspected he could play other instruments as well or even better he does the guitar. She looked around to see how other people reacted – mainly the females of her team and JNPR – and found that they had the same reactions – or close enough – as her.

Ruby was dumbstruck, Weiss was elegantly surprised, Blake was astounded, Pyrrha was flushed, Ren was... happy? And Nora was... stunned. However, they all shared the same thing, they had tears in their eyes. Yang knew that this video would only make the fight for Jaune much harder than it already was, and that alone was saying something. She knew that this would catch the attention of all available females in Remnant.

The whole caf was stunned into silence, until noise erupted and people – mainly the girls – began chatting about getting Jaune to do that again. Yang turned her attention back to her friends as they were recovering from the display.

"Wow, that was just... wow." Ruby said.

"Indeed, it seems as though Jaune's improved on his guitar playing skills." Ren the residential martial artist commented. Yang saw the perfect opportunity because of Ren's comment to tease the Ice Queen.

"If Vomit Man played like this when he asked you to the dance you probably would've said yes, eh Ice Queen?" Yang had asked, moving to sit beside Weiss so she could wrap an arm around her shoulders. Said Ice Queen could only blush before getting annoyed at being called out.

"First, never, _ever_ call me that again, second, yes, if Jaune did play like that when he asked me to go to the dance I _might have _considered it." She said. Everyone at the table looked angry at the heiress, causing her to give them a questioning look, it was Pyrrha who spoke first.

"The fact that Jaune even _asked _you, let alone _serenade _you, and you shoot him down, not only that, you have the gall to say that even if he sang most beautifully to you, you still say you _might_ consider it."

"What's your problem Nikos? Jealous that the object of your affection has me as his?" Weiss said, challengingly. Being the champion that she was, Pyrrha didn't back down.

"Yes, we saw how well that turned out when you went to the dance alone, and Jaune had to literally make Neptune dance with you. After all that Jaune's done to try and make you happy, you cast aside Neptune, and go for Jaune once again because he's stopped showering you with affection." When Pyrrha finished, Weiss didn't bother with a retort, but the two stared each other down with withering glares.

Looking around, Yang saw that all attention had been redirected from Jaune onto the heated discussion between Pyrrha and Weiss _about_ Jaune. Yang's attention had been brought back to the two when both Pyrrha and Weiss slammed their hands on the table and stormed off, each to different sides. The remains of JNPR – Nora and Ren – had left to go follow Pyrrha, while the remains of RWBY – Blake, Ruby and soon enough, herself – had stood up to follow Weiss. They stopped and entered an empty classroom and shut the door. They saw tears falling from Weiss' face, and the trio rushed over to her to comfort her the best they could.

After a few minutes, she eventually calmed down, and the trio had waited with baited breath for her to speak.

"I-I know I talked about why I like Jaune but, hearing it from someone like Pyrrha, who's stuck beside and liked him since day one, who'd seen his potential long before most people have, and stuck her neck out for him to help better himself. Maybe, she's right, maybe I don't deserve him." They were all stunned at the heiress' confession.

"Weiss, it's alright to feel this way. I mean sure you were really, really, _really_ mean to Jaune, but he never held it against you, and he even treats you well. We all have a chance to be with Jaune, and you shouldn't be discouraged by what Pyrrha said, she might've just realized that others are finally seeing what she's seen in Jaune all along, she might also just be worried for Jaune's safety, I mean he has to escort Alex Free, a famous singer who's being targeted by the White Fang." They all took time to process what Ruby's said, and found that it was true, they all had a genuine shot at being Mrs. Arc.

Yang, Ruby and Blake were all caught off guard when the infamous Ice Queen Weiss had hugged them.

"Thank you, all of you." Was all she said before the three returned the gesture.

"Yay! Team RWBY bonding time!" Ruby exclaimed, lightening the once tense mood that had befallen upon them, causing them to laugh at the young leaders words.

* * *

_Pyrrha_

The Spartaness had stormed out of the caf – not caring about the fact that all eyes were on her and the Schnee heiress – and was walking to her team's dorm until she felt the aura of her remaining teammates approach her. She saw the green and pink clad duo approach her, and before either of them could speak, Pyrrha had said that what they have to talk about would be best discussed in their dorm room, while they reluctantly agreed.

Once they got there, Pyrrha sat on Jaune's bed, the scent of their leader had a way of comforting the bronze clad warrior, an act that didn't go unnoticed by the sloth duo.

"Weiss... she just... she has what a lot of girls would kill for, riches, beauty, prestige, skill and talent, and finally, what I consider the most wonderful thing..."

"Jaune's affection," Ren and Nora finished for Pyrrha, making her nod. The both of them sat on Jaune's bed, beside Pyrrha.

"Pyrrha, you know that Jaune hasn't confessed to Weiss in a long while, and who knows, maybe he's even stopped his feelings for her, and has moved onto greener pastures, maybe greener pastures that are red and named Pyrrha Nikos." Nora had said, causing Pyrrha to blush a bit and laugh, causing the sloth duo to smile in helping her ease up.

"Thank you, Ren, Nora, for helping me with this." Nora and Ren smiled reassuringly at their Spartan teammate.

"Please say no more, Pyrrha, we're teammates, furthermore, we're family." Ren had said. Nora nodded furiously, standing up with her right fist raised in the air.

"Don't sweat it P-Money, team JNPR sticks together!" The two laughed at their pink clad teammate's antics.

"We should head over to class now, I'm certain team RWBY will be there by the time we arrive, and you and Weiss can settle what you need then." With that, Ren and Nora stand up, and head for the door, sensing that Pyrrha hadn't followed, they look back, to see her with her hands on Jaune's bed, gripping it.

"Pyrrha?" Nora asked, concerned, she doesn't make eye contact and tells the both of them to go on and that she'll meet them there, they nodded and reluctantly left, closing the door, leaving her all alone. She grabbed Jaune's pillow and hugged it tight, burying her nose into it, the scent of her leader filled her nostrils and calmed her down.

"I miss you Jaune, please come back to me safely." Pyrrha mumbled into the pillow, with a tear rolling down her face.

* * *

_Cinder_

Cinder pulled out her Scroll and dialled her associate through a secure line, after a few rings, the man picked up.

"Yes, Cinder?"

"Roman, the pieces are in place, _Irene, _I repeat, _Irene_." Cinder said, shocking Roman.

"Are you sure? You mean-"

"Yes, Operation Alt Valor is a go."

"I see, we'll get it done then."

"Very well, see to it then, and make sure to remind Taurus as well." With that, she hung up on him, and she chuckled diabolically, eventually it turned into full on evil laughter.


	9. Events in Motion

_Jaune_

Jaune woke up with a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach, he didn't know what it was or what caused it, but he knew there was something wrong. He shook off the thoughts and sat up from his makeshift bed. He got dressed and headed out of his tent and onto the cook fire, where everyone save for Talisa were eating their breakfast. He walked over and gave them a wave, exchanging their pleasantries before Lyanna handed him his plate.

He took it with a thanks and took a spot next to Alex. Today's breakfast consisted of bacon and scrambled eggs. After a few minutes they had finished and had started to pack up to move again. When they were done, Talisa had come back, and they headed off once again. After a few minutes of silence, Jaune had turned to speak to them.

"We entered Vacuo a few minutes ago, and we should be reaching our destination in a few hours, if I had to guess, I'd say we have maybe 6-8 hours of travel time, give or take." He said, and the group had nodded in acceptance.

He continued walking forward and then that bad feeling he had gotten earlier in the morning had returned. He tried to shake it off like he did earlier but it was a stronger feeling this time. He looked up in the sky and saw a large flock of birds come from the forest, and heard Alex and Katie give off startled yelps, he calmed them down, and told them it was nothing to be worried about, although on the inside he knew there was something wrong, something very, _very_ wrong.

* * *

_Nora_

It's been a while now since Jaune had left with SLT for his mission, and even though she knew that he was only on the team temporarily, but she couldn't help but feel jealous towards the 3 girls, as they were cutting into the time she and her team spends with him. She shook those thoughts from her head as she sat up from her bed, and saw a large looking spider crawling around the room. With a startled _'EEP!'_ she grabbed Magnhild, which was shifted to its war hammer form, leapt from her bed and brought down the hammer onto the unsuspecting spider with a large swing, resulting in a large shockwave and a cluster of dust, awaking the other two inhabitants of the dorm, but killing the spider in the process.

When the dust settled, Nora saw Ren standing while holding StormFlower, while Pyrrha was holding Milo in its Xiphos form in her right hand and Akouo in her left, just as Pyrrha was about to ask something, she saw the door open and team RWBY come in with their weapons drawn. Now it was their turn to ask a question, but something else caught Nora's eye. It was a piece of paper, a letter, she had guessed, and it was near Jaune's bed, and it had the twin arcs of his family, so she assumed it had belonged to him. She picked it up and began to read it in her mind, but Pyrrha saw the twin arcs and was flabbergasted, she walked up to Nora and was about to reprimand her for reading Jaune's personal belonging without his consent when Nora passed the letter to her.

Pyrrha was hesitant to read it since it belonged to Jaune, and she didn't even ask for his permission for it, so Nora handed it over to Blake and asked her to read it out loud for everyone. Blake reluctantly agreed, cleared her throat and began...

* * *

_Jaune_

After a few minutes they kept walking, only this time the birds have stopped, but the forest was quite, a much more different change from the normal times since there would always be some sort of noise emitting from the forest, but hearing it so quiet was just... creepy, and it only made the bad feeling he had worse. Something was wrong, first there was the bad feeling he woke up with, then the flock of birds leaving and now the quiet forest, something was coming, something big.

As on cue, the ground started shaking violently, as if there was an earthquake, and then he heard the vicious sounding growls coming from the once silent forest. He saw scores of Grimm emerge from the forest, and to make it worse, he saw that there were a variety of them, ranging from the standard Beowolf, to the Ursa Minor and Major, and even some Deathstalkers.

"Shit..." Jaune muttered to himself as he drew Crocea Mors and heard the clicking and whirring of weapons, indicating that the girls had done the same. He looked back and saw that both Katie and Alex were frozen in fear, Alex more so.

"SLT! Take the both of them and move back, I'll cover you!" Jaune commanded as the enemy grew closer.

They obeyed his command and pedalled backwards as far as they can, while the more curious or bold Grimm tested their luck against them. A few Beowolves lunged at them and Jaune expertly cut them down with the greatest of ease. After watching the display, the Grimm back off, deciding that the group won't be as easy to take down as they first seemed a few seconds ago, they decided to watch them, for now.

They didn't go far however, when Katie and Alex collapsed to the ground, Alex especially. Jaune looked at how she completely collapsed on herself, her uncontrollably crying, he assumed that it was because that she was faced in a life or death situation, until he remembered that the situation that they were currently in happened to her love interest Rhaegar. Jaune looked at Katie, and while she seemed more composed than Alex, she was still taking this pretty hard. He turned to SLT, and saw their composure, but knew that on the inside, they were freaking out at the possibility of death.

Jaune turned around to look at the Grimm, they were inching forward, clearly with a new plan of attack. He turned his head around to shout orders.

"Form a defensive formation around Alex and Katie, keep as many at bay as possible, I'll call for backup!" He turned back around and pulled out his scroll and checked for a signal, but he was highly suspicious when there was none found.

"Shit, any of you girls get connection?" Jaune asked them. After a few seconds he was met with a chorus of "no's

"God dammit," Jaune said.

The Grimm charged forward as they held their lines. He heard sniper shots and knew that Talisa was putting in work with Lifesbane, while he heard the humming charge and shot of Serena and her railgun slash war hammer, Death Dealer. Finally, he heard the _swish_ of a sword and the howling of Grimm as Lyanna was slashing them with her Kusanagi. He slew a few Grimm that came his way with Crocea Mors, until they started attacking in greater numbers and he drove the blade onto the ground, and pulling out his newly acquired greatsword, Dawn.

With a swing of both hands he split four charging Beowolves in half, and saw a large Ursa Major approach him. He charged at the beast as it did the same, it swiped at him as he ducked and slashed upwards at it, cleanly cutting through it, but blood sprayed all over him. His eyes stung as he opened them, having to wipe the blood from his eyes. When he opened them, he saw more approach, and he charged forward, and met them head on.

The whole fight had now gone into a whole hour, but with no matter how many they kill, the Grimm kept surging forward, eventually pushing JSLT back, forcing them to touch backs.

"_**Dear Jaune,"**_

Jaune knew that something had to change, otherwise they would meet their demise, he looked around and saw that Serena had switched Death Dealer from its railgun form into war hammer mode due to the Grimm closing in on them.

"_**By the time you're reading this, you're already at the age where you've discovered the ocular power that runs through the blood of every male Arc,"**_

He started swinging with intensity as blood, fur and bits sprayed through his wake.

"_**The signature changing from blue eyes to blood red, which is the base of the power that is called, the Sharingan. The blood red eyes alone is called a Blank Sharingan. There are more stages, however."**_

He felt the blood coursing through his veins, he felt the rush of battle.

"_**The higher level is when the user manifests a single tomoe, and that is called the First Stage."**_

Jaune marched forward, and with every swing of his blade, Grimm from all walks of life fell.

"_**Then, when you manifest a second tomoe, it's called the Second Stage."**_

He kept walking forward, and the bodies kept falling.

"_**And finally, your Sharingan fully matures when you manifest your third tomoe. There are many more, better versions but we'll talk more when you come home for semester break."**_

He turned around and looked back at the girls, and saw that they were – slowly, but surely – being pinched. He grit his teeth, even though he knew that he will have to use his less favoured form, but he was pushed to it, and without it, they would all die.

"_**From Your Father, Florent."**_

He sliced the few remaining Grimm before he trudged back to them, killing the Grimm that came too close, and he turned to Talisa and handed her his recently acquired dagger, Lifedrinker.

"Here, I know since you might not have any backup plans aside from your sniper, keep this just in case." With a nod, Jaune went back to fighting. He kept slicing through the seemingly never ending horde.

Jaune lost track of time as now that the sun had begun to set, and Jaune felt the fatigue setting in. He felt the burning throughout his entire body, more prominently through his arms, and he had to switch back to Crocea Mors an hour or so ago.

He heard a cry of pain and looked back and saw that Talisa was on the ground, a few feet from the group, clutching her side, with blood pooling around her. Jaune felt the world around him slow down as he knew from past experience that her wound was fatal, but that the other girls couldn't move to get to her because the defensive position would be compromised. He ran up to her, but he was too busy focusing on Talisa and didn't see the Death Stalker's stinger until it was too late and it pierced his right side and with a flick of its tail, threw him aside like a rag doll.

He was clutching his side in pain as his aura had started to work overtime to counteract the Death Stalker's venom, as well as the wounds he's sustained from the taxing battle. He looked at the girls and saw that the lengthy battle was taking its toll on them. He then remembered the dream he had, where the children had foretold of the outcome of this mission.

"_...you will either die letting others live, or watch others die as _you _live."_

Jaune closed his eyes, knowing that he cannot allow the latter to happen, but he was content with the former. He remembered when all the times he'd spent with his team and RWBY, the short amount of time with SLT, and how he had made the promise to protect them, and right now he was failing.

He opened his eyes, and there they were, blood red eyes, with two sets of black tomoe in each eye.

* * *

**Hello! I'm back from my brief hiatus, writer's block had gotten me good, and I struggled to finish this chapter, and as you can see this chapter isn't as long as the others I'd written. For those who might be confused, the bolded italicization is Blake reading Jaune's dad's letter to everyone. This is the chapter where the Naruto x-over was warranted. As I said last chapter, there _was_ a sequel that I was thinking about having, but I'm still uncertain about it. The base red eye transformation is the "blank Sharingan" and the rest, is history. If you were wondering, no, Yang does _not _have the Sharingan, it's merely a coincidence, as seen with Kurenai's blank red eyes. Jaune has two tomoe in each eye now, when he activates his Sharingan. Basically, tomoe are comma like Japanese symbols.  
**


	10. Bowler Hats and Cheap Cigars

Jaune looked around him, the swarm of Grimm closing around them, in particular the Deathstalker that sent him sprawling into the ground. He glanced at Crocea Mors, which lied a few feet away from him. He looked back at the Deathstalker, and sprinted towards his sword, immediately feeling the vibrations on the ground as his enemy charged towards him. Jaune had managed to grab his sword and turned to face the Grimm. He walked forward as time had slowed down, giving him a view of every single detail. He jumped onto the creature, before lifting his sword and quickly jabbing it into one of its pincers, severing it. The Deathstalker let out a hiss as the blade had nearly severed it, before it brought its golden stinger down onto the spot where Jaune is. Said boy had already foreseen this move, and back flipped away, letting a smirk grace his features as the Deathstalker's stinger made contact with its already heavily damaged appendage, with the size and weight of the sharp stinger severing it, letting out a screech worse than the first. He had landed to the side of the creature, a few feet from it. He ran towards it, and slid under it, all the while having Crocea Mors pointed upwards on an angle and channeled some of his aura through it. Because of the soft, unprotected underbelly of the Deathstalker coupled with the sharpness of his blade in addition to his aura, his blade had cleanly sliced through the creature, and he heard the quelching as its innards had fallen onto the ground. As he got back up on his feet, he glanced back and saw that its legs had been quivering, before it had seemed to collapse upon itself.

He turned his attention back to the girls and saw that they were in a very precarious situation, and he grit his teeth as he lunged towards them. He saw Lyanna and Serena desperately try to keep the Grimm at bay while protecting Talisa, Alexandra and Katie. The Grimm had seemingly sensed the almost total collapse of the defense and had been even more daring, and moved in. Lyanna's swings had become slower and sloppier, while Serena's swings with her war hammer had lessened due to the sheer amount of Grimm coming at them, coupled with the weight of the weapon had fatigued her quickly. Lyanna was currently fighting a swift looking Beowolf – which Jaune had assumed was the alpha – had ducked under the swing and went straight towards the weakest of the group, the one too busy bleeding out, Talisa. He dug his heels into the ground, stopping his movement. He clenched the hilt of Crocea Mors and grit his teeth in frustration of the situation of the mission. He raised his blade and pointed it to the sky, funneled his aura and frustration into it, causing the blade to glow and bright nearly golden colour, and with a loud yell, shoot it into the sky above. It was blinding, to say the least, and one of the downsides of this… newfound 'trick' was that it had burned everything from his right elbow up. He felt some of his skin peel away, and a stinging sensation fill it. When he looked around him, he saw that they were all distracted by it. He looked at Serena, and spoke to her,

"Finish them off while they're distracted!"

She – and Lyanna – had finally been snapped out of their reverie and nodded, before finishing off the closest Grimm to them. While they were doing that, Jaune had begun to feel the side effects and had dropped the sword, with the tip of Crocea Mors pointing towards some Grimm and filled those afflicted with a golden light, before they had burned into ash. Once the initial shock of the mysterious beam had worn off, the Grimm had turned their attention back onto the ever weakening Hunters-in-training. A few tense minutes however, and they seemed to… stay still and do nothing but observe them, and occasionally growl. The group were confused, to say the least, and Jaune had slowly made his way towards the group, once he reached them, he – as quietly as he could – talked to them.

"There's a clearing there," he said, as he pointed towards the clear space that somehow seemed free of Grimm.

"On my signal, you take Talisa and carry her," he looked at Serena

"You'll be in charge while I'm gone, try and find a way to contact someone, preferably who has access to some sort of weapon or transportation, and go back to Beacon." Once he finished, they looked at him with challenging looks, Serena was the first to protest.

"Jau-" before she could even finish saying his name, Jaune had interrupted her with a commanding look.

"Stop, I know what I'm asking you to do and I know it can't be easy, but Ozpin appointed me as leader, so please, listen to me." He finished, placing his hand on Serena's shoulder, giving her a confident grin. She looked into his eyes, before turning back towards her team, and settling once more on him, and nodded, heading towards the rest of the girls. She was walking towards the injured Talisa, slinging her arm over her shoulder and helping her up gently, while Lyanna walked over towards Alex and Katie, helping them. Before they headed off however, Serena looked back at Jaune, and asked him a question.

"What are you going to do?" she asked him, part of her dreading the answer. He seemed unfazed by the question and turned his back on her, looking straight ahead at the Grimm before them.

"Whatever I can," was all he said. She knew that his stubborn nature wouldn't budge, and so the all female group had begun moving forward. As they did so, they could see the standoff-ish Grimm.

"Why are they not doing anything?" Talisa asked with a near whisper. Serena looked back at her wounded teammate with a not-so-confident look.

"I have no idea, Tal. But I'm not really complaining, I'm just hoping we'll have enough time to get out."

"But what about Jaune?" Talisa saw her teammate's face scrunch up in worry for a brief second, so fast she thought she was just imagining it were it not for the sour look in her eyes.

"You heard him, whatever it takes." She said, before looking straight on ahead at the road.

Jaune looked at the growling Beowolves, snarling Ursa, clicking Deathstalkers, hissing Taijitu, and new that he had to do something, since he didn't know how long the Grimm will be in this state of somewhat calm. He held his sword tighter, and he heard the rumble approaching from his left as the sound of whirling blades fill his hearing. He looked near the clearing where the sound was coming from and saw an old school looking helicopter hovering over the spot, and slowly began descending a good distance from the girls, seeing the bind the group had gotten in, and decided to be an amazing human being, and help these random strangers.

He looked back at the Grimm as their attention had no doubt been caught by the sound of the helicopter, and began acting more agitated, as if ready to attack. Jaune knew that if that happened, not only would the girls be slaughtered, but also those in the helicopter attempting to help them. He had to think of a plan that would give them enough time to escape, and he did the only thing he could, be the center of attention.

"Hey, you!" He yelled at the Grimm, catching not only their attention, but the girls' as well. He looked at the shocked expression on their faces.

"Follow my orders, get in the chopper, get Talisa medical attention, try and contact Ozpin or Beacon. Go, now!" he said, before raising his sword and rotating it in the air.

"Let's play a game of follow the human, starring me! Come on!" he yelled out, and began running the opposite direction of the surprise evac. He heard someone scream his name, and cursed to himself when he saw that the Grimm had turned their attention from him to the girls, and had begun to slowly move towards them. He mustered up the few remaining aura he had and let out a quick aura flash, resulting in a fast white light emanating from his body before disappearing, no doubt cementing the attention of the Grimm. He kept moving, to where he didn't know, as long as it resulted in the extraction of the girls he was fine with it. Jaune chanced a look back at the girls, and saw that the few people in the helicopter – from their choice of clothing, Jaune assumed that they were civilians – and were practically begging the girls onto the vehicle, looking back at him, before he sent them a nod and continued running.

After a few seconds he heard the vehicle roar back to life and take off, watching as they grey whirlybird fly off, presumably somewhere Talisa can receive the treatment she needs. He stuck his right foot out, skidding to a stop, with dirt piling on his foot. He twirled Crocea Mors in a circular motion, before taunting the approaching Grimm with a two finger salute.

Some time had passed, and Jaune knew his end was near. His aura was very low, stamina nearly shot, his Sharingan had long since been deactivated, due to its upgrade putting a severe strain on him. He was panting, his bangs were wet with sweat and had fallen down onto his face, stinging his eyes. He batted them away, only for them to resume their usual spot, and he had to slick it back to regain some vision. He saw a Taijitu slither towards him, and regained his proper fighting stance, getting ready to roll out of the way at the right time. The snake rocketed towards him, but Jaune hadn't need to roll away, as when the snake had gotten close, a whirring sound had been heard, and a torrent of bullets had rained upon the unsuspecting creating, with it turning to shreds ad the ammunition made contact with it. Soon after, the other Grimm had not been spared from the carnage either, with other weapons coming into play. Jaune saw a few rocket launchers take out scores of Grimm, a few more Gatling guns joining in the fiasco. For a few minutes, Jaune was deafened by the loud noises of these devastating weapons, and after a few more minutes, the firing had stopped, with the ringing in the forest slowly subsiding. With the, he rotated, looking for his saviours, when he saw people drop in from the trees… wearing White Fang uniforms. He gripped his sword tighter, although he knew that he stood no chance, since not only was he outmanned, outgunned and outmatched, but he was in no state to fight, barely having enough energy to keep his eyes open and his body standing.

He saw a familiar looking man with a white coat, orange hair, a black bowler hat, holding onto a cane. He looked at Jaune with a smirk.

"Hello there blondie, my name's-"

"Roman Torchwick," Jaune cut him off. Roman didn't look annoyed like Jaune thought he would be, but the action was rather the opposite. Roman's smirk grew even wider.

"Ahh, I see I'm still rather well known. Anyways, I'll get straight to the point. My… _employer-_" Jaune noticed the annoyance laced in the thief's voice at the mention of his boss.

"-is currently interested in something you have, and it'd be in yours – and everyone's – best interest if you come along with us like a good little boy." He said, speaking to Jaune as if he were an uneducated child. Jaune smirked, shook his head, and raised Crocea Mors, with the blade pointed towards Torchwick, and ignored the shaking of his arm due to fatigue.

"No thanks, if your master wants something from me, tell him to get it himself." Jaune finished, noticing the way Torchwick's eye twitch and mouth twist into a sour frown. His grip on the cane had tightened, and his clenched his teeth.

"Listen, _kid_. It'll be much easier for you if you come along, I might even consider forgetting about your little outburst."

"Like I said, if your master wants something from me, he should get it himself, instead of sending his underling." Torchwick sighed, and reached into his coat, which made Jaune changed his stance, getting ready to dodge whatever it was the thief was pulling from his coat. He was surprised however, when his hand had retracted from his coat, and instead of a weapon of some sort, it was a cigar. He stuck it in his mouth and fished out a lighter from his coat and lit it, taking a long puff from it, before removing it and exhaling the smoke. He placed his hand on his face and pinched his forehead in frustration, before he looked back at Jaune, stood still for a moment before… shattering into thousands of pieces?

He felt the air shift from behind him, and the smell of tobacco and… fertiliser?

"Should've gone with the easy way brat, I'll be enjoying this." Was what Jaune heard and his eyes widened in surprise, immediately bringing Crocea Mors up and turning behind him, his eyes seeing the smile – an actual smile – present on Roman's face as his cane came up and hit Jaune in the face… hard.

* * *

**If you're still following with this story, I'd like to thank you very much for your patience, as you know school is ongoing, and since this is my senior year, I've just been focused on getting the best grades I can and going to a good university. Rest assured, I'll still be writing in my spare time, but it may not come as quickly as it would before hand. So the forest arc has just wrapped up, and we'll be starting the new, hopefully more entertaining arc next chapter, however, I do plan on taking this story to a more... darker route, so be prepared for that happening. **


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